Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has started the 2024 season slower than fans would have expected at the start of the year.
Coming off his ninth Pro Bowl season, Kelce has only caught seven passes and has caught four for 39 yards. He had just one five-yard catch in the Chiefs' win over the Cincinnati Bengals last weekend.
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Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce watch the US Open on September 8, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Kelce was injured in the first game of the 2023 season. When he finally got on the field, he had four receptions on nine attempts for 26 yards. He had one touchdown. In his second game, he had seven receptions on eight attempts for 69 yards and also had a touchdown.
The 34-year-old star player, who is approaching his 35th birthday, looks exactly like that: a 35-year-old soccer player.
But is there anything else to blame? ESPN host Stephen A. Smith seems to think so. He invoked Taylor Swift when discussing Kelce's performance on Monday's “First Take.”
“I love my brother by another name, Travis Kelce, but yesterday, on a Sunday afternoon, we saw more Taylor Swift than Travis Kelce,” Smith said. “That wasn't supposed to happen. We were supposed to see more Travis Kelce than her yesterday.”
Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce and Patrick and Brittany Mahomes watch a match between Jannik Sinner and Taylor Fritz at the US Open on September 8, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Taylor Swift makes an appearance at Patrick Mahoney's 29th birthday party
“But that's not going to happen. You've got to get going, you've got 39 receiving yards in the first two games. Come on, football season is here. The honeymoon is over. Let's go about our business, okay?”
It could also be part of the game plan. Through the first two games, Kansas City tight ends have only been targeted 11 times — Kelce, Noah Gray and Jared Wiley caught the passes. The team has used Isiah Pacheco and Xavier Worthy as complements to Rashee Rice earlier in the year.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid was asked if teams were doing more to get rid of Kelce.
“They had some things they were trying to do,” Reid said Monday. “He'll get his catches. It's not that he's losing his rhythm or anything like that, that's not what's happening. It's just that teams are focusing on him and they know he's been Pat's (Mahomes) go-to guy. But what Soren (Petro) has done is he's allowed us to utilize the other guys around him and they've been productive.”
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce catches a pass at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, on Sept. 15, 2024. (Images by Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn)
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But with Pacheco's injury, one of the tight ends will have to step up and make way for Patrick Mahomes.
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