Travis Kelce Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports

Kansas City Chiefs superstar tight end Travis Kelce is 35 years old, which is about the time when many players in the NFL start contemplating retirement or at least playing fewer snaps than they did during their primes. But in a shocking turn of events, Kelce is actually on pace to play some of the most snaps of his career this season.

As Joshua Brisco of Chiefs on SI pointed out, Travis Kelce is on pace to play more snaps this season than he has in any of the past three seasons.

“In his age-35 season, Travis Kelce is on pace to play a higher percentage of snaps than he did in the 2021–23 seasons,” Brisco said in a post on X, the social media website that was formerly known as Twitter.

In fact, Brisco is actually underselling it a bit.

At just over 57 snaps per game on average, Kelce is on pace to play about 977 snaps during the regular season, which would mark the second-most snaps he’s played in a season in his entire career, behind only the 2018 season in which he played 993.

Needless to say, this is some pretty shocking news considering he’s 35 years old and nearing retirement age, and it led to a lot of reactions on social media.

“How many seasons does he have left? I don’t ask this to be snarky.. I’m just thinking the time is drawing uncomfortably closer and closer,” one fan wrote on X.

“Surprising but I think has something to do with every game being one possession more than anything else,” another fan suggested.

“So much blocking,” another fan added.

“Kelce finishing with one of the highest snap counts of his career yet some of his worst production I think is yet another sign that this thing is nearing the end,” someone else said.

“Gun to my head, I would’ve never guessed Kelce is on pace to play MORE than the previous 3 seasons,” another fan said.

“Exactly what we didn’t want,” another fan added.

We’ll have to see whether or not Kelce continues to play these heavy snap totals for the rest of the season.

[Joshua Brisco]