Travis Kelce, tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, recently had some great words of advice for Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback/wide receiver, Travis Hunter. Kelce, in his latest appearance on the ‘Bussin’ With The Boys’ podcast, warned Hunter that teams may simply try their best to tire him out since he plays a dual role with the team, and suggested that he prepare for this.
Kelce’s words to Hunter were echoed quite recently by none other than former NFL coach Eric Mangini. Mangini, on ‘First Things First’ explained that the NFL will be something quite different from college football and that Hunter will have to show up with a different strategy to play both offense and defense here.
“The season is significantly longer. The quality of the players that he’s playing against are good every single week, which is different than college. There are some weeks where he was so much better than anybody else that was on the field that that was a different, different equation. The other way I think you can attack him is that he’s not a big guy… one of the things that we would do consistently is, if you get a finesse defensive back, you try to make him tackle. Like, okay, you want to cover. We get that. Congratulations. But we’re going to make you tackle and see whether you know what kind of stomach you have for that at 175lbs,” Eric Mangini saidabout Travis Hunter on ‘First Things First’.
Coach Mangini thinks teams will be able to tire Travis Hunter out:
“He’s shown that he’s built different, but there’s a significant difference between college football and the NFL.” pic.twitter.com/1DpcIiwBAk
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) July 7, 2025
Feb 9, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX at Ceasars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Feb 9, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX at Ceasars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Travis Kelce, on ‘Bussin’ With The Boys’ basically said that if Travis Hunter plays corner, other teams will be lobbing deep balls at him throughout the game to simply tire him out. Perhaps, this is what the Chiefs have up their sleeves in their plan for Travis Hunter.
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Feb 9, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) bumps into Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter (98) in the fourth quarter in Super Bowl LIX at Ceasars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images
Travis Kelce Criticized By Eric Mangini For Losing Focus
Travis Kelce also received some heavy criticism from Eric Mangini in his latest appearance on ‘First Things First’. According to Mangini, the entire reason for Kelce’s poor performance in the 2024 NFL season was because he spent the offseason doing everything “but football”. Mangini then went on to list the things that had Kelce’s focus, including his highly-publicized relationship with singer-songwriter Taylor Swift.
Jan 26, 2025; Kansas City, MO, USA; Recording artist Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) react after the AFC Championship game against the Buffalo Bills at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Jan 26, 2025; Kansas City, MO, USA; Recording artist Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) react after the AFC Championship game against the Buffalo Bills at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Kelce also released a brand new podcast with his brother, Jason Kelce, called ‘New Heights’. The podcast has also definitely taken up plenty of Kelce’s time. Travis Kelce himself admitted that his relationship with Swift and the media’s attention surrounding it affected his performance in the 2024 season.
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