Chiefs’ Travis Kelce opens up about how acting career impacted his play on field
Much of the GQ cover story about Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce revolves around his offseason workouts in Florida.
The interview and photos of Kelce took place in the Sunshine State as he prepared for the 2025 NFL season. Sean Manning’s story noted that Kelce worked with Tony Villani, who had been his trainer since he took part in the NFL Combine.
“Kelce took a hiatus from Villani a few years ago, when the Kansas City Chiefs tight end moved his off-season operations to Los Angeles, near his burgeoning second career in film and television,” Manning wrote. “Now, though, Kelce has come back east to regroup from last season’s lopsided defeat in the Super Bowl.”
After the Chiefs won a second straight Lomardi Trophy by beating the 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII, Kelce spent much of the summer in front of a camera. He acted in “Grotesquerie,” the FX show, and was host of the game show, “Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity” on Amazon Prime.
While Kelce said in the GQ story that winning a Super Bowl is the ultimate goal, he acknowledged his off-the-field time in Hollywood might have affected his play.
“I think it might have slipped a little bit because I did have a little bit more focus in trying to set myself up,” Kelce told GQ. “And opportunities came up where I was excited to venture into a new world of acting and being an entertainer.
“I don’t say this as ‘I shouldn’t have done it.’ I’m just saying that my work ethic is such that I have so much pride in how I do things that I never want the product to tail off, and I feel like these past two years haven’t been to my standard.”
Kelce, 35, didn’t exactly have a terrible year in 2024. He had 97 receptions, 823 receiving yards and three touchdown catches. But for a tight end who prevously had seven consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons, it was a bit of a drop-off.
Kelce’s post-football plan
Kelce’s time in Hollywood is part of his long view. The day will come when football is over and he’s setting himself up for a second career. Acting is only part of that vision, as he will continue the New Heights podcast and investment opportunities.
In the GQ story, Kelce talked more about his future as an actor.
“I don’t necessarily know if I’ll take it and run with it when I’m done playing,” he said, “but I know that I want to stay around the football world as a profession and then dabble in other areas as well.”
Kelce the NFL broadcaster? Perhaps. But whatever Kelce decides to do when he hangs up his cleats, he won’t make it his sole focus in life.
Perhaps that thinking is influenced by his relationship with superstar singer Taylor Swift. Football demands a large amount of Kelce’s time, and he wants to find a “happy medium,” as he told GQ.
“I do want to have free time. I do want to have the ability to be around my family,” Kelce said in the story. “I don’t want to get too busy to where I’m traveling all over the world and I’m not present at home.”
This story was originally published August 13, 2025 at 10:47 AM.
