INDIANAPOLIS — Travis Kelce is playing for the Kansas City Chiefs or retiring. Mike Evans is returning for another season and will explore his options.

The future of both superstars was among many topics at the NFL scouting combine on Tuesday.

Kelce is scheduled to become a free agent next month. A person with knowledge of Kelce’s thinking told The Associated Press the four-time All-Pro tight end will not test the market. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because free agency hasn’t started. If the 36-year-old Kelce returns for a 14th season, it’ll be in Kansas City with coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

The Chiefs, of course, want him back.

“I think we’ve kind of taken a different approach with Travis in the sense that we’ve prepared for either scenario,” GM Brett Veach said. “Coach had mentioned on Friday (that) he’s had great dialogue with Travis. On our end, myself, (assistant general manager) Chris Shea and Travis’ crew, we’ve had some good dialogue there. I’m sure we’re going to see him here just like we will all the other players’ agents and we’ll continue that dialogue. Travis is the best, he’s an icon and hopefully he comes back and we’ll just let that process play out.”

Kelce, an 11-time Pro Bowl selection, had 76 catches for 851 yards and five touchdowns last season when Kansas City’s run of dominance in the AFC West ended. The Chiefs have reached the Super Bowl five times in the past seven seasons, winning three.

“It’s not your typical – hey, 27-year-old first time in free agency,” Veach said. “Travis has done everything, he’s accomplished everything – he’s about to get married, he’s got a lot going on. So, I don’t think there’s an element of us not trying to – you need some sort of deadline (or) timeline but at the same time, it’s Travis Kelce so we’re just going to continue to have positive dialogue and see where this thing ends. I think we’re trying to position ourselves that either way, we have a plan moving forward.”

Evans is planning to play a 13th season but it may not be with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver had his streak of 11 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons end when he missed nine games because of injuries.

“I love Mike, and we’d love to have Mike back,” general manager Jason Licht said. “And he’s earned the right to (test free agency) with his resume. Mike, as a person, what he’s meant to this entire community, the fan base, all of us, I could go on and on, which we have, he’s earned that right. We’d love to have Mike back. We’re just seeing how the process goes.”

NFL receives no tush push ban proposal this year

The tush push is still tough to stop, on and off the field.

NFL executive Troy Vincent told reporters at the scouting combine that no team submitted a proposal to ban the controversial quarterback sneak before the deadline this year for clubs to propose rule changes. The league could still explore modifying the rules regarding pushing and pulling players.

The Philadelphia Eagles mastered the short-yardage strategy behind the strong legs of quarterback Jalen Hurts and a powerful offensive line. After the Eagles won the Super Bowl following the 2024 season, the Green Bay Packers authored a rule change proposal to prohibit offensive players from pushing, pulling, lifting, grasping or encircling a runner, which would have effectively outlawed the tush push. The ban was supported 22-10 among the league’s 32 franchises, failing to pass by two votes.

Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said Tuesday at the combine that the Packers had no plan to try to pursue another ban.

“And nobody’s reached out to us about doing it,” Gutekunst said.

The Eagles weren’t as successful running the play in 2025 as they were in previous seasons. They also ran some trick plays out of the formation.

“I think there’s some things that teams did this year that they did a good job of being able to stop it,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “We either have to get back to being able to be as dominant as we were at it, or we find new avenues to be able to convert on third down or in the red zone. That’s the fun part about the offseason is to be able to go through those processes. You go through them during the season, as well. And I think you saw us do some cool things off of it, and you still want to be able to do them.”

The NFL instructed officials to crack down on false starts out of the tight formation and there were complaints that officiating the tush push was becoming too difficult. It appeared momentum was building for a proposed ban again this offseason but that hasn’t happened.

There was a strong push last year from detractors to eliminate the play for health and safety reasons, even though the NFL’s data showed no injuries on the play.

“Last year, we spent two hours on health and safety on the (tush push) and then added 1,000 kickoffs,” said Broncos coach Sean Payton, who is a member of the NFL’s Competition Committee. “Which play do you think is more of a health risk? I think if we ever choose to move on from (the tush push), it won’t be because of health and safety. It’ll just be like we don’t like it, which is OK.”

Hall of Fame safety John Lynch, the 49ers general manager and also a member of the competition committee, said about the play: “Maybe it’s kind of solving itself.”