Travis Kelce all but admitted this week he is contemplating retiring after 12 NFL seasons. Apparently, the Kansas City Chiefs don’t want to wait very long for his decision.
The star tight end just played in his third consecutive Super Bowl and, at age 35, he has not much left to accomplish in what is sure to be a Hall of Fame career.
Well, the Chiefs have reportedly given him a soft deadline of “around March 14” to make his decision, according to The Athletic.
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Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) reacts on the field after losing to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome.(Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images)
The date makes sense, as it’s two days after free agency officially begins, but arguably more importantly, his $11.5 million roster bonus is due the next day.
A report from NFL.com on Super Bowl eve said Kelce was “expected to take time after the Super Bowl, consider his future and make a decision before free agency.”
On the latest episode of his “New Heights” podcast he co-hosts with his future Hall of Fame brother Jason, he said he is “kicking every can I can down the road.”
“I am not making any crazy decisions, but right now the biggest thing is just being there for my teammates and being there for my coaches, understanding there’s a lot that goes into this thing. I’ve been fortunate over the past five, six years, I’ve played more football than anybody,” Kelce said. “The fact that we keep going to these AFC Championships and Super Bowls, that means I’m playing an extra three games more than everybody else in the entire league. That’s a lot of wear and tear on your body.”
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) takes the field before Super Bowl LIX against the Philadelphia Eagles at Caesars Superdome.(Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)
“It’s a lot of time in the building. … That process can be grueling. It can weigh on you. It can make you better, and it can drive you crazy,” he added. “Right now, it was one of those things where it was driving me crazy this year. It happens as you tail off toward the back nine of your career.”
With the Chiefs’ success over the last eight seasons, Kelce has played 25 playoff games, adding nearly a season and half worth of games to the 175 regular-season games he has played in his career.
Clips of Kelce’s apparent lack of effort in the Super Bowl have gone viral, with fans thinking he’s rather checked out.
Among tight ends in NFL history, Kelce ranks third in catches (1,004) and yards (12,151) and fifth in touchdowns (77). That comes despite 11 tight ends, including those ahead of him in those prior categories, playing more games than him. For reference, Tony Gonzalez, who leads in catches and yards, played in 270 games, 95 more than Kelce.
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) reacts on the sideline in the third quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome.(Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images)
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However, it’s clear that he’s not his All-Pro self anymore. This season marked the first time since 2015 in which Kelce played in at least 16 games and failed to reach the 1,000-yard mark. He also scored only three touchdowns in the regular season, the lowest mark of his career outside his one-game rookie season where he didn’t take an offensive snap before undergoing knee surgery.
If Super Bowl LIX was the final time fans saw Kelce on the field, it’s certainly the end of a legendary career. Kelce has made 10 Pro Bowls and was either a First- or Second-Team All-Pro seven times.
Fox News’ Ryan Canfield contributed to this report.
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Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove sent a memo to the acting FBI director Friday evening directing him to terminate eight FBI employees and identify all current and former bureau personnel assigned to Jan. 6 and Hamas cases for an internal review, Fox News has learned.
Bove’s memo to acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll, which was obtained by Fox News, asserts the Department of Justice cannot trust the FBI employees to carry out President Donald Trump’s agenda.
The subject of the memo is “Terminations.”
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FIRES MORE THAN A DOZEN KEY OFFICIALS ON FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH’S TEAM
“This memorandum sets forth a series of directives, authorized by the Acting Attorney General, regarding personnel matters to be addressed at the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Bove wrote.
Bove, a former Trump defense attorney, directed Driscoll to fire eight specific FBI employees by Monday, Feb. 3, at 5:30 p.m.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, a former Trump attorney, directed the FBI acting director to fire seven specific employees by Monday.(Angela Weiss/Pool/Getty Images)
“I do not believe that the current leadership of the Justice Department can trust these FBI employees to assist in implementing the President’s agenda faithfully,” Bove wrote in the memo.
Bove cited comments made by President Trump on his first day back in office, in which Trump accused the Biden administration’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies of going after Biden’s political adversaries.
“The American people have witnessed the previous administration engage in a systemic campaign against its perceived political opponents, weaponizing the legal force of numerous Federal law enforcement agencies and the Intelligence Community against those perceived political opponents in the form of investigations, prosecutions, civil enforcement actions, and other related actions,” Bove’s memo noted. “This includes the FBI.”
ANTI-TRUMP FBI AGENT RESPONSIBLE FOR OPENING JACK SMITH ELECTOR CASE AGAINST PRESIDENT: WHISTLEBLOWER
Bove said the FBI’s “prior leadership actively participated in what President Trump appropriately described as ‘a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years’ with respect to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“The weaponization of the FBI’s security clearance process is similarly troubling,” Bove continued. “So too are issues relating to the FBI’s reticence to address instructions and requests from, among other places, the Justice Department.”
The seal for the Justice Department in Washington Nov. 18, 2022.(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Bove said the problems “are symptomatic of deficiencies in previous leadership that must now be addressed.”
Bove wrote that he “deem[s] these terminations necessary, pursuant to President Trump’s January 20, 2025 Executive Order, entitled ‘Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government’ in order to continue the process of restoring a culture of integrity, credibility, accountability, and responsiveness to the leadership and directives of President Trump and the Justice Department.”
Beyond the terminations of the eight employees, Bove directed Driscoll to identify by noon Tuesday, Feb. 4, “all current and former FBI personnel assigned at any time to investigations and/or prosecutions” relating to “the events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021” and United States v. Haniyeh, a terrorism case against six Hamas leaders charged with planning and carrying out the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel.
The defendants in that case include Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, high-level Hamas leaders believed to have been assassinated in 2024 by Israeli operatives.
MAJOR FBI CHANGES KASH PATEL COULD MAKE ON DAY 1 IF CONFIRMED AS DIRECTOR
Bove ordered that the lists of employees Driscoll should compile “should include relevant supervisory personnel in FBI regional offices and field divisions, as well as at FBI headquarters.”
“For each employee included in the list, provide the current title, office to which the person is assigned, role in the investigation or prosecution, and date of last activity relating to the investigation or prosecution,” Bove directed. “Upon timely receipt of the requested information, the Office of the Deputy Attorney General will commence a review process to determine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.”
Fox News also obtained the letter Driscoll sent to bureau employees Friday evening after receiving Bove’s memo. In it, Driscoll notified employees he was directed to fire the specific employees Bove identified “unless these employees have retired beforehand.”
“I have been personally in touch with each of these impacted employees,” Driscoll wrote.
The J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building in Washington, D.C. (Brooks Kraft/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
As for the directive to compile a list of FBI employees involved in the Jan. 6 and Hamas cases, Driscoll said that request “encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts.”
“I am one of those employees, as is acting Deputy Director Kissane,” Driscoll wrote. “As we’ve said since the moment we agreed to take on these roles, we are going to follow the law, follow FBI policy, and do what’s in the best interest of the workforce and the American people — always.
“We will be back in touch with more information as soon as we can. In the meantime, stay safe, and take care of each other.”
The FBI declined to comment on any personnel matters, including names, titles or numbers.
The DOJ directive comes after Acting Attorney General James McHenry earlier this week fired more than a dozen key officials who worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s team prosecuting Trump. Fox News Digital exclusively reported the action Monday.
Special counsel Jack Smith delivers remarks on an indictment, including four felony counts against former U.S. President Donald Trump at the Justice Department Aug. 1, 2023, in Washington, D.C.(Alex Wong/Getty Images)
A DOJ official Monday used similar language to that seen in Bove’s letter, telling Fox News Digital McHenry “does not trust these officials to assist in faithfully implementing the president’s agenda.”
The directive also comes a day after Fox News Digital exclusively reported that whistleblower emails were shared with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, revealing that a former FBI agent, Timothy Thibault, allegedly broke protocol and played a critical role in opening and advancing the bureau’s original investigation related to the 2020 election, tying President Donald Trump to the probe without sufficient predication.
Bove’s memo also comes a day after President Trump’s nominee to lead the bureau, Kash Patel, testified during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Trump and allies have maintained the law enforcement agency was weaponized against him and conservatives across the nation.
The House Judiciary Committee, for months, investigated the FBI for the creation of a memo targeting Catholics and parents at school board meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Trump on Friday evening denied any involvement in the DOJ directive.
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“We have some very bad people over there,” Trump said Friday. “They came after a lot of people like me, but they came after a lot of people. No, I wasn’t involved in that.
“I’ll have to see what is exactly going on after this is finished,” he added. “But if they fired some people over there, that’s a good thing, because they were very bad. They were very corrupt people, very corrupt, and they hurt our country very badly with the weaponization. They used, they used the Justice Department to go after their political opponent, which in itself is illegal. And obviously it didn’t work.”
FOX Business’ Ashley Webster talks to diners in The Villages in Florida about retirement after a Northwestern Mutual survey claims it will take $1.46 million to retire comfortably.
Looking to retire, but not crazy about living in Florida? Financial analysts recently put together a study highlighting the best states in which to retire.
Personal finance company WalletHub recently published a research summary determining which U.S. states are the best to retire in 2025.
While Florida remains a popular retirement location, the study found that four other states — one Midwestern and three Western — were also ideal locations.
The study, Best and Worst States to Retire, prioritized three key categories: affordability, quality of life and healthcare. A total of 46 relevant metrics were used, and analysts weighed the population of senior citizens per state and the adjusted costs of living heavily.
Here are the results of WalletHub’s study, in order of the worst to best states in which to retire:
WalletHub analyzed every U.S. state to determine which were best to retire in and found a Midwestern state ranked second. (iStock / Getty Images)
STUDY RANKS US STATES WITH MOST FINANCIALLY-DISTRESSED RESIDENTS — SEE THE LIST
50. Kentucky
49. Louisiana
48. Mississippi
47. Washington
46. New Mexico
45. New Jersey
44. Rhode Island
43. West Virginia
42. Arkansas
41. Hawaii
40. Indiana
39. Oregon
38. Tennessee
37. Alabama
36. Maryland
35. New York
34. Illinois
33. Oklahoma
32. George
31. Kansas
30. Arizona
29. Connecticut
28. Nevada
27. Nebraska
26. Texas
25. Michigan
24. Idaho
23. Massachusetts
Affordability was considered a key metric of the study. (iStock / iStock)
22. Montana
21. California
20. South Carolina
19. Ohio
18. Utah
17. Vermont
16. Iowa
15. Maine
THESE US AIRPORTS RANK HIGHEST FOR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
14. Alaska
13. Missouri
12. North Carolina
11. Virginia
10. Wisconsin
9. North Dakota
8. Delaware
7. New Hampshire
6. Pennsylvania
5. South Dakota
4. Wyoming
3. Colorado
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Florida ranked high on WalletHub’s list of best states to retire in. (iStock / iStock)
2. Minnesota
1. Florida
While the Sunshine State still reigns as the best state to retire in, the other four top states – one Midwestern and three Western – may be surprising.
Analysts found that Minnesota’s health resources made it an attractive state to retire in.
“Minnesota has the most health care facilities, the second-most nursing homes, and the third-most home health care aids per capita,” the study said. “Its geriatrics hospitals also rank as the fifth-best in the nation.
“Due to the great health care conditions within the state, Minnesota has the third-lowest percentage of seniors with a disability, the fourth-lowest percentage with poor mental health, and the fifth-highest percentage who are in good physical health.”
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WalletHub noted that Colorado has no inheritance or estate tax, making it an attractive option for retirees. (iStock / iStock)
WalletHub said Colorado was a “great state for retirees’ physical and mental health,” and noted the lack of estate and inheritance taxes there.
“It has one of the lowest rates of social isolation for seniors, and it boasts the 10th-best geriatrics hospitals in the country,” the study said of the Centennial State. “It also has the fourth-highest percentage of seniors who are in good health and the third-highest percentage who are physically active.”
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Researchers also found Wyoming ranked highly for quality of life and affordability, though it ranked relatively low for healthcare. South Dakota was the opposite, having slightly above-average quality of life and affordability scores but rating highly on healthcare.
