Travis Kelce's Sweet Message to Taylor Swift at Jason's Retirement Speech

Travis Kelce seemingly gave a shout-out to his girlfriend, Taylor Swift, as his brother announced his retirement from the NFL.

After weeks of speculation, Jason Kelce confirmed he would be leaving the Philadelphia Eagles and that his days as a professional footballer were over.

"I've been asked many times why did I chose football—what drew me to the game—and I never have an answer that gets it right," the 36-year-old said at a press conference in Philadelphia Monday. "The best way I could explain it is what draws you to your favorite song ... It's what it makes you feel. The seriousness of it. The intensity of it. Stepping on the field was the most alive and free I ever felt."

travis kelce crying
Travis Kelce during Jason Kelce's retirement announcement from the NFL in Philadelphia on March 4. Travis Kelce was spotted wearing a bracelet with a shout-out to his girlfriend, Taylor Swift. Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images

Jason Kelce's family was in attendance: his wife, Kylie Kelce; his parents, Donna and Ed Kelce; and his younger brother, Travis Kelce, a three-time Super Bowl champion with the Kansas City Chiefs.

The family was emotional during the announcement, and Travis Kelce could be seen wiping his eyes.

As he did, some eagle-eyed fans noticed an important detail about his jewelry.

Travis Kelce was wearing "friendship bracelets," which he may have gotten when attending one of Swift's Eras tour shows. Since they started dating, he has attended her concert in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Sydney.

Swifties have long exchanged the bespoke bracelets at Swift's concerts, and they usually feature a person's name or other details, along with other trinkets, such as beads, flowers, smiley faces or hearts.

In this case, one bracelet showed Travis Kelce's full name, but the detail that impressed fans were on the other bracelet: two letter T's on either side of a heart, which many interpreted as meaning "Travis loves Taylor."

"Travis wore a t🖤t bracelet today (the top one)," wrote one person on X, formerly Twitter.

Another posted: "Omg!! The bracelet has a heart in the middle and says T and then the other T. And the other bracelet looks like it says Travis kelce."

"Travis wearing friendship bracelets in his every day life just because.... the T❤️T beads... even im swooning like im so happy for my girl," another user commented.

Travis Kelce previously said he had planned to woo Swift by giving her a bracelet with his phone number on it when he saw her Eras concert in Kansas City, Missouri, in July, but that he never got the chance.

"I was disappointed that she doesn't talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings," Travis Kelce told his brother on their podcast, New Heights, in July. "I didn't get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her ... I wanted to give Taylor Swift one with my number on it."

"Your number as in 87, or your phone number?" Jason Kelce responded.

"You know which one," Travis Kelce said.

That conversation helped launch Travis Kelce's relationship with Swift, as she thought it was "metal" that he had publicly disclosed that information.

"This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell," Swift told Time magazine in December. "We started hanging out right after that. So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I'm grateful for, because we got to get to know each other."

Swift added: "By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple. I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date."

Uncommon Knowledge

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About the writer


Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more

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