Chiefs’ Charles Omenihu has message for Travis Kelce as star tight end ponders retirement
Will tight end Travis Kelce be with the Chiefs when they play their next game?
Kelce’s future — whether he’ll return for the NFL’s 2025 season — has been a hot topic on the sports talk shows after he spoke about the factors he will consider before deciding whether to retire.
Chiefs defensive lineman Charles Omenihu had some words of wisdom for Kelce, his 36-year-old teammate, on Thursday’s edition of Fox Sports’ “The Facility.”
“This would be my message to Trav: ‘Big Dog, we, the whole organization, can’t go out like that,’” Omenihu said of the Chiefs’ 40-22 loss to the Eagles in Super Bowl LIX. “He’s a Hall of Famer from the moment he says I’m done, right? But I think Travis has a lot left. I think Travis an extreme competitor. I think he’s somebody that loves the game. And I think in the storied career that he’s had, going out like that, in my opinion, wouldn’t be something that he would do.
“So I believe that he’ll be back. I believe that he’ll give you one more go. We have guys coming back on that team. Rashee (Rice) is gonna be back, so that’s gonna help out the offense. And I think whatever holes that the team has, coach (Andy) Reid and Brett (Veach, the general manager) do a great job of getting on top of it real quick. They’re not going to overlook anything that may have been a reason why we didn’t come out on top.
“So it’s going to be a retool, refuel, and get back to it. And we have Pat (Mahomes), so you know for a fact that you’re gonna be in the dance. So it’s like, all right he’s not coming back to maybe we might get to the (playoffs). We know for a fact they’re gonna be in there, and probably for a fact that you’re gonna be in that championship game.”
On the Super Bowl loss
Omenihu also talked about the Chiefs’ lopsided Super Bowl defeat. He said the appearance of Eagles backup quarterback Kenny Pickett in the game was tough to take.
“It was just bad, bruh,” Omenihu said. “The fact that you’re in the Super Bowl, the biggest game of them all, and the backup quarterback for the opposite team is in the game. That’s just not a good feeling. But I will say this, it’s a learning experience for all of us that was involved in the game. I want to say that this won’t be something that will linger on in the organization. I think they’ll take it in. We’ll all take it in, chew it up, spit it out, and be ready for next year.
“And there’ll be a fire across everybody in that building to get back to that point. And so at this time next year, if I’m with them, or whoever y’all have on here, the questions are like, ‘What did y’all learn from last year experience to win next year’s Super Bowl?’ So I think in all of it, bro, it’s bad. It was embarrassing. It’s not something that anybody on the planet ever thought was going to happen. But you can use it as a tool to kind of learn to go into the offseason.”
This story was originally published February 13, 2025 at 12:26 PM.
