Sheinelle Jones Applauds Travis Kelce for Not Retiring Despite Wedding Planning and Taylor Swift Engagement

Sheinelle Jones thinks Travis Kelce made a smart choice in returning to the NFL.

During the Tuesday, March 10, episode of TODAY With Jenna & Sheinelle, the host, 47, applauded the football player, 36, for extending his contract with the Kansas City Chiefs, despite rumors of retirement.

“Turns out he’s not hanging up his Kansas City Chiefs jersey after all. After a difficult season, everybody knows, last year, a lot of fans thought Travis might be retiring and hanging it up,” Jones explained of Kelce, whose team went 6-11 and did not make it to the NFL playoffs last season. “He just announced, he’s like, ‘Uh, uh, uh. I’m returning for my 14th season.’ Some people say he wanted one more chance to go out on top. It leads to the question, how do you know when it’s time to leave something?”

“It’s a hard thing to do…I feel like it’s best, based on personal experience, to leave when the party is still going,” co-host Jenna Bush Hager added.

“You want to leave on top,” Jones agreed.

On Monday, March 9, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Kelce will be returning to Kansas City, and the message was “delivered to teams who will want him.” The three-time Super Bowl champion signed a one-year contract that is reportedly worth up to $15 million.

Kelce detailed his decision to come back to Missouri during Tuesday’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show.

"I still love going to work, putting on the pads, grinding it out and just playing the game, you know, and I think my best opportunity was playing for the Chiefs yet again and running this thing back with Pat Mahomes and Coach [Andy] Reid. And got my guy Eric Bieniemy, Coach [Eric] Bieniemy back, and there’s a lot of pieces in Kansas City that I just absolutely love and I can't wait to get back in the building with,” he expressed.

The star is happy to have his bride-to-be, Taylor Swift, by his side for another season. He gushed over how “amazing” it is to see her "keep going to the table, keep finding new things to write about, keep finding new melodies...and on top of that, still seeing her have that love and joy in what she does."

"Yeah, of course that's motivating," Kelce emphasized. "That's motivating for anyone to see, let alone my fiancée, and knowing that I'm going through something where I'm trying to figure out what exactly the future holds for me, something like that definitely motivates me to say, 'You know what, I'm not done either.'"

The couple got engaged in August 2025 and will continue wedding planning amid the celebs’ individual career pursuits.

During Tuesday's episode of TODAY With Jenna & Sheinelle, guest star Jalen Hurts gave his opinion on Kelce’s recent decision to come back to the Kansas City Chiefs.

“He’s a great player, and he has a love for the game…I’m all for him living out his dream, and when his time’s up, he’ll let it be known,” the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback expressed. “He still has that fire in his heart to go out there and compete. They’ve got a great team. They’ve done great things over the years. So I’ve got a lot of respect for them and the organization.”

During a June 2024 episode of their “New Heights” podcast, Kelce’s brother and retired NFL star Jason Kelce weighed in on the retirement buzz.

“This is when you’re going to start knowing, whenever this time comes, and you need to walk away,” the former Eagles center said. “[It’s] the fighting your body, like, you used to be able to do something you can’t do anymore. That’s when it’s like you’re fighting that, to continue to get that back. That’s when it starts to become hard. Bottom line is everyone knows when it’s time for them.”