Travis Kelce Defended by Chiefs’ Reid amid Slump: ‘Defenses Don’t Think’ TE Is ‘Old’

Mike Chiari@@mikechiariFeatured Columnist IVSeptember 26, 2024

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Despite superstar tight end Travis Kelce’s slow start to the 2024 season, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is unconcerned.

Speaking to The Athletic’s Nate Taylor, Reid suggested that defenses are keying on Kelce, which has opened the door for other players to produce, such as wide receiver Rashee Rice:

“I know people are saying that he’s old or has distractions, but the defenses don’t think that. We have another receiver [Rice] that plays opposite of [Kelce] who has a lot of yards and catches. That’s how this thing goes. Travis is fine. He just keeps being Travis. He works his tail off and he hasn’t lost a step. He’s not distracted.”

The Chiefs are off to a 3-0 start, but Kelce is on pace for the worst statistical season of his career aside from his rookie year when he appeared in only one game.

Kelce has eight receptions on 12 targets for 69 yards, and he has yet to score a touchdown. Meanwhile, Rice leads the NFL in catches with 24 to go along with 288 yards and two scores.

As little as Kelce has done from a pass-catching perspective, he is still second on the team in receptions and third in receiving yardage, which speaks to how little production there has been from the Chiefs’ wideouts and tight ends as a whole outside of Rice.

Kelce, who will turn 35 on Oct. 5, posted seven straight 1,000-yard seasons from 2016 to 2022, and he has been named a Pro Bowler in nine consecutive seasons.

He fell just short of the 1,000-yard mark last season, although he would have easily gotten there had he not missed two games, as he finished with 93 grabs for 984 yards and five scores.

Even so, there were whispers of whether Kelce may have lost a step, as he scored his fewest touchdowns since 2019 and had the worst yard-per-catch average of his career at 10.6.

Kelce seemed to put any such talk to rest during the playoffs, though, as he racked up 32 catches for 355 yards and three touchdowns in four postseason games, all of which led the league, en route to the Chiefs winning a second straight Super Bowl.

NFL @NFLIf it’s the AFC Championship, you know @tkelce will step up with a big-time performance:

– 11 receptions
– 116 yards
– 1 TD pic.twitter.com/kWxHI2RUse

That suggests Kelce is still capable of turning it on and dominating when called upon, but that hasn’t helped stop the narratives of Kelce being past his prime or distracted by off-the-field situations, such as his relationship with pop megastar Taylor Swift or his roles in numerous commercials and the FX show Grotesquerie.

Reid insists that none of that is impacting Kelce, though, and if what he says is true, a Kelce breakout game could potentially be coming at any moment.

Kelce’s next chance to break out of his slump will come Sunday when the Chiefs go on the road to face the Los Angeles Chargers.