Travis Kelce called his wedding the ‘best night of my life.’ Now, he’s back in his football sanctuary

Kelce moved on to his busy offseason quickly, he said, following his first experience missing the playoffs in more than a decade. The 36-year-old said he felt responsible for multiple Chiefs losses during a 6-11 2025 season, and said the leadership of players like quarterback Patrick Mahomes has Kansas City on track to bounce back this year.

“There are a few games last year that I feel like I put on myself,” Kelce said. “Once we get back into OTAs and right now, everybody feels everything’s gotta get turned up a little bit.”

In 14 NFL seasons, all of which Kelce has played under head coach Andy Reid and all of which have featured a training camp on the practice fields of Missouri Western State University and sleeping arrangements in the school’s dorms, Kelce spoke fondly of St. Joseph.

“It’s always going to be my sanctuary,” he said. “I think St. Joe’s got a special place in my heart. A time that you know you need to have these days. You need to have this time of grinding with the guys, being around them all day, every day to start to create that chemistry and that standard of how we’re going to do things.”

While the two-a-days have been legislated out of training camp by the NFLPA, Kelce said he’s now enjoying hearing the woes of training camp newcomers as they experience Andy Reid’s grinding practices, including the vaunted long drive drill.

“Body feels good,” Kelce said, noting offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy’s presence at training camp brings an infectious energy. “It makes you want to scream m—–f— at everybody doing the wrong thing. And I love that s—. It’s one of my favorite things about him and I don’t think there’s enough of that in the world, let alone in this building.”

Kelce continued with the praise for the returning offensive coordinator.

“EB is one of those guys where his accountability is going to piss you off, but if you treat it the right way and you act the right way and respond the right way with it, you’re going to become better because of it and it’s going to make the team a better team because of it,” Kelce said. “It’s one of those things that I think we really missed here in Kansas City.”

Kelce said that accountability was missing last year.

“1000 percent. And that’s not to say it was on anybody specific,” the future Hall-of-Famer said. “I’d put my hand in the air and say there were things that I could have done better in that regard. And it’s one of those things that I’m working on. It’s not just going to be Bieniemy out here, holding people accountable.”

With three Super Bowls under his belt, several All-Pro accolades and plenty of Chiefs and NFL records on his resume, Kelce said he still has something to prove to himself.

“I still got a lot of love for this game,” he said of why he returned for another season. “I still think I can go out and play at a high level and I want to go out there and prove to myself that I can play at a better level than I did last year.”

He also returned for another year of play with Patrick Mahomes, who enters his 10th season in the NFL — and ninth as the starting quarterback working with Kelce, this fall.

“Everybody knows I love that guy,” Kelce said. “It’s a brother to me. I’m so proud of the way he handled adversity from last year. Obviously, we’ve still got a month until the first game, but you see him out here enjoying the game, competing at a high level, not thinking about the knee.

“He’s playing his tail off right now leading us. The biggest thing is when you get your leaders out there, your best players out there and they’re setting the tone, setting the standard of the team. As long as 15 is out there doing that man we’re going to be a good football team.”