“He’s gonna retire before the season starts”: NFL followers react to Travis Kelce collapsing after taking extreme blow at Chiefs coaching camp

Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs are two weeks into their 2026 training camp. However, during practice on Friday, the superstar tight end took a hard hit from cornerback Melvin Smith Jr. on a play.

Video footage showed Smith colliding with Kelce after he made a catch from a pass by Patrick Mahomes, and the TE remained on the ground for a while.

Fans on social media had some interesting reactions to Kelce being hit by Smith on the play.

“Kelce gonna retire before the season starts with all of these incompletions/drops in training camp,” one tweeted.

“Kelce not gonna make it all year,” another added.

“Geez can we take it easy on Trav little with the hits like that. damn it he was slow getting back up,” a third commented.

Here are a few more reactions.

“Take it easy on my goat now but defense is on it today though man I love to see it whatever spags said to them keep it up it’s working,” one wrote.

“Hold on to it Kelce,” another added.

“Great play but go easy on my,” a user tweeted.

Travis Kelce will be entering his 14th year with the Chiefs in the 2026 season. He got married to pop music icon Taylor Swift in the offseason.

Kelce has helped Kansas City to five Super Bowls, winning three.

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Travis Kelce’s Chiefs will play three preseason games before 2026 regular season

Travis Kelce’s Chiefs will play three preseason games before the start of the 2026 regular season. Here’s a look at Kansas City’s preseason schedule:

• Week 1 | Saturday, Aug. 15 | Los Angeles Rams | 3:00 p.m. CT
• Week 2 | Saturday, Aug. 22 | at Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 6:30 p.m. CT
• Week 3 | Friday, Aug. 28 | Seattle Seahawks | 7:00 p.m. CT

There was some uncertainty about whether Kelce would return to the Chiefs for the 2026 season since his previous deal had expired in the offseason. However, the veteran TE signed a three-year contract extension with Kansas City worth up to $57.7 million.

Kelce’s deal was reported as a multi-year extension, but the structure functions primarily as a one-year commitment for the 2026 season.