The Denver Broncos may have just gotten their ticket punched for the playoffs — the Kansas City Chiefs are sitting quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce for their game on Sunday. Head coach Andy Reid decided to rest a lot of his starters.
Since the Chiefs have already wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the AFC and have nothing to gain today, it only makes sense that the team would rest their starters before the playoffs start.
What Kelce Sitting Out Means
Besides Mahomes and Kelce, other Chiefs not playing include:
- DT Chris Jones
- OT Jawaan Taylor
- RB Isiah Pacheco
- CB Trent McDuffie
- DE George Karlaftis
With Kelce and Mahomes sitting, it means that Mahomes won’t throw for 4,000 yards in a season and that Kelce will not reach 100 receptions during the regular season. He will finish with 97.
Kelce hasn’t been as productive this year as in previous years. Kelce has 823 yards but only three touchdowns.
Many are wondering if this may be Kelce’s last year playing football.
Rumors of Retirement
The Chiefs are trying to be the first NFL team to win back-to-back-to-back Super Bowls and recently they seem to return to Super Bowl form.
So, you have to wonder if the Chiefs pull off that feat, will Kelce retire? In an interview on “The Rich Eisen Show” in September, he said he was still excited to come to work.
“I’m still enjoying coming to work. I’m not dreading practice,” Kelce said at the time. “I’m just having so much fun and just so appreciative and so fortunate that I’ve been able to come into Year 12 and still have this energy and this love and the ability to get to work.”
But when the Chiefs played Cleveland a few weeks ago, speculation of Kelce retiring came up again on his “New Heights” podcast after he said this after the Chiefs’ victory: “It felt so surreal. I don’t know if it’s the last time I’ll play in Cleveland but it kinda felt like I was giving it one last hoorah before I’m done because I’ve only played there twice in 12 years … It was a special day for me personally,” he said.