Last week, ESPN’s Pat McAfee broke the biggest story of the NFL offseason so far when he revealed that Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce isn’t retiring and plans to play in 2025.

The 35-year-old Kelce had reportedly been on the fence after the Chiefs’ embarrassing 40-22 defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans on Feb. 9, and he even got out of the country with girlfriend Taylor Swift for a post-Super Bowl vacation as he weighed his options.

But now that Kelce’s return is confirmed, what should Chiefs fans expect from the 10-tiem Pro Bowler after recording the two worst statistical seasons of his career in 2023 and 2024?

According to Fox Sports’ Henry McKenna, the team already has a plan in place regarding Kelce’s usage, which could drop significantly with the emergence of rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy, who logged eight receptions, 157 yards and two touchdowns in the Super Bowl, and if receiver Rashee Rice is fully healthy after suffering a torn ACL in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Chargers.

“In 2025, the Chiefs will continue to reduce Kelce’s importance in the offense by emphasizing their receiving corps,” McKenna recently wrote. “That should mean limiting his workload.”

Underdog Fantasy’s James Palmer disclosed a few weeks ago that the perception among those in the Chiefs’ building is that Kelce had lost a step as he’s transition into the tail-end of his career, and the belief was he’d had to play a reduced role in the offense if he did come back for his 13th season.

Those claims were seemingly backed up in conversations that McKenna also had with those close to the Chiefs organization, in which details were disclosed about some difficulty Kelce was having with the grueling toll an 18-to-20-game season (including the playoffs) was taking on him.

“A source told me that, during the season, Kelce would playfully wonder, ‘Why am I doing this?’ during his pre-practice warmup routine, which has turned into a grueling process unto itself,” McKenna added. “When an NFL player enters the league, he can basically step onto the field and be ready to practice. For Kelce now, it’s not like that. It takes time, effort and planning.

“At one point this past season, he was simply jogging at practice and — out of nowhere — he pulled up limping in pain, because a simple footstrike sent shooting pain through his body. Kelce pulled himself off the field to do additional body work to get himself back into practice. All because he was jogging.”

With both Rice and Marquise Brown banged up for most of the season, the Chiefs had to rely on Kelce pretty heavily in the passing game. Despite posting a career-low 823 yards receiving, he still saw 133 targets — 35 more than the next-closest player (Worthy, 98).

If Rice comes back healthy, and if DeAndre Hopkins re-signs with the team plus the emergence of Worthy, it’s unlikely Kelce will be targeted 100-plus times next season.