Time, curious time. The Kansas City Chiefs are reflecting on how players including Travis Kelce have changed since joining the team.
“Where does the time go @tkelce?! 🤯,” the Chiefs’ official X page captioned side-by-side photos of Kelce, 34, on Thursday, June 27.
The first photo was taken in 2013, Kelce’s first year on the Chiefs, while the second snap is from 2024. He rocked longer hair and a more serious expression in the first picture and smiled with his teeth showing in the newer shot.
“Buddy has aged like fine wine 😲,” one X user replied.
Others chimed in to agree that the years have been kind to the tight end.
“Not gonna lie, Travis has had a glow up!” one fan wrote.
“Taylor [Swift]’s fella looks better now,” one person commented, referring to Kelce’s romance with Swift, also 34.
One X user referenced lyrics from Swift’s song “So High School,” which is thought to be about Kelce, while commenting on the fine lines the NFL star has acquired over the years.
“In the blink of a crinkling eye … ,” the user wrote.
The Chiefs shared comparison photos of other members of the team on Thursday, including quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
“Time flies when you’re having fun. Right, @PatrickMahomes?!” the account captioned shots from 2017 and 2024.
“Everyone is smiling so much bigger now. Love these,” one X user commented.
Mahomes, 28, is several years into the 10-year contract he signed with the Chiefs in 2020, while Kelce signed a two-year extension worth $34.25 million in April, making him the highest-paid tight end in the NFL.
“I’m so thankful to this organization for getting it done and making me feel appreciated and compensated in the right way, and on top of that I got to move the needle for the tight end room,” Travis said of the deal during a May episode of his and brother Jason Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast. “I’ve loved every single second of it, and I’m going to love the next two years playing here in Kansas City. We’ll see what happens after that but I am so excited and I can’t thank Kansas City enough.”
Travis will turn 35 during the 2024-2025 football season, and according to a study by RBC Wealth Management, the average age of retirement for an NFL player is 27.6 years old. After admitting that he thinks about retirement “more than anyone could ever imagine” during a November 2023 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Travis has since emphasized that he’s not ready to walk away from his football career.
“I’m going to do it until the wheels fall off,” he said during a press conference earlier this month. “I can definitely understand that it’s toward the end of the road [more] than the beginning of it. I just gotta make sure I’m set up for after football as well. … Obviously, I know there’s opportunities outside of football for me. I think you’ve gotta keep in perspective that I’m a little kid when I come in this building.”
