Everyone starts questioning if you’re boom or bust when times get tough. That’s exactly what Travis Kelce is dealing with right now. But Chris Jones isn’t buying that chatter. The Chiefs’ defensive tackle fired back at an ESPN analyst for urging the team to ditch Kelce.

“Shut up…..🤫” Chris Jones’ sharp reply to current ESPN insider Mike Tannenbaum’s bold take.

Jones, who has lined up next to Kelce for a decade, couldn’t stay silent after hearing the insider’s comments.

“I would move on from Travis Kelce,” said Tannenbaum on SportsCenter. “When you’re in the front office, you have to project what a player is going to do, not what they’ve done. I’ve made that mistake countless times in my career.”

Kelce’s performance has sparked discussions as he contemplates retirement. The Chiefs’ tight end considered calling it quits last offseason but returned for a redemption year, chasing a fourth Super Bowl ring. That dream didn’t come true.

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Instead, his output dropped from his classic 1,000-plus-yard seasons to just 851 yards this year. His 76 receptions rank as his third-lowest total, matched only by his starting years in 2014 and 2015 before his breakout exploded in 2016.

​Critics pointed fingers at Kelce for being a bit slow on the field during the season. They blamed his age as the big culprit. Even after Kelce trained hard all offseason, shedding nearly 25 pounds to get faster, doubts lingered. His career-low 8.5 yards per catch in 2024 climbed back to a pro-level 11.2 this season.

However, Tannenbaum’s comments come from his own troubled past with the Jets (2006-12). As general manager, he chased players based on past glory. Take the infamous Brett Favre signing in 2008. The then freshly retired quarterback unretired to join the Jets. They surged to 8-3 before it unraveled with just one win in their final five games.​

Now, it all boils down to Kansas City and Travis Kelce deciding if they continue this year or longer. But Tannenbaum also laid out what the Chiefs must do to build for tomorrow.

Travis Kelce’s future with Kansas City hangs in the balance

Travis Kelce still wrestles with retirement thoughts and plans to inform the Chiefs of his decision by early March. But Tannenbaum insists they should move on and draft fresh talent.​

“Travis Kelce is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. But when you watch him and make an honest and sober evaluation of his 2025 performance, clearly his best days are behind him. We talked about their lack of explosive plays. If I was Kansas City, I would make the right, albeit difficult, decision. Move on from Travis Kelce, try to get younger, faster, more explosive at the tight end position,” added Tannenbaum on the show.

Two questions pop from his take. First, will Kelce become a “first-ballot” Hall of Famer? Looking at this year’s ballots, it’s not a lock. Second, is Kelce truly done at 36? Absolutely not. One or two down years don’t seal his fate. That’s what the Chiefs chairman and CEO, Clark Hunt, made crystal clear.

“Well as an organization, we certainly hope that he will come back,” Hunt said on Good Morning Football on January 27. “He had another great year, maybe not on par with where he was four or five years ago, but he still had over 800 yards and was really one of the leaders on the offensive side of the ball for us. So there’s no doubt in my mind that he can still play.”​

If Travis Kelce chooses to return, Spotrac projects his market value at $10.7 million per year. That would be a steal for Kansas City as they juggle cap space for the 2026 season.