How Travis Kelce's retirement decision impacts Chiefs' plan for two 1st-round picks

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How Travis Kelce's retirement decision impacts Chiefs' plan for two 1st-round picks originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

There was a point in time this offseason when the Kansas City Chiefs didn't yet know what Travis Kelce was going to do.

Would the legendary tight end finally retire? Or did he have another year in him after marrying Taylor Swift over the summer?

Turns out, Kelce is back. He chose to keep playing and not end things on a nightmare 2025 Chiefs season.

And that's a huge deal. It impacts this week's NFL Draft in a major way.

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How Travis Kelce impacts Chiefs' draft plans​

If Kelce had retired, the calls would've been loud for Kansas City to target a TE in the early stages.

There's one clear cut No. 1 tight end in this class: Kenyon Sadiq out of Oregon.

If Kelce was gone, the Chiefs would've had to at least partially consider Sadiq with their No. 9 overall selection -- and if they didn't take him there and he started to slide, maybe a trade up would've been in order from No. 29.

Kelce's presence makes this more about preference for the Chiefs. If they truly like Sadiq a lot, they can still target him at some point. They will still eventually need an heir for Kelce, and in the interim, a young TE could learn a lot from the all-time great.

But if the Chiefs aren't fans of Sadiq, then they can look elsewhere. At least for 2026, they have the tight end position covered.

Kansas City knows it won't have Kelce forever. But at least he's still there now, and so the Chiefs can focus on other needs in this week's draft.

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