Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs opened their 2025 NFL season with a loss to their AFC West rivals on Friday night in Sao Paolo, Brazil, falling 27-21 to the Los Angeles Chargers.
It was shocking to see the Chiefs finally lose a one-score game, and Kelce’s performance stuck out to one analyst, who revealed a worrisome observation about the star tight end.
Despite catching a pair of passes for 47 yards and a touchdown, John Middlekauff of 3 And Out said that Kelce is “a shell of himself” and stressed how he wasn’t impressed with what he saw from him in the opener.
“Travis [Kelce] is a shell of himself,” Middlekauff said.
"Travis [Kelce] is a shell of himself"@JohnMiddlekauff was NOT IMPRESSED with what he saw from the superstar TE in the Chiefs' loss to the Chargers. pic.twitter.com/ZmQfScx9oe
— 3&OUT with John Middlekauff (@3andout_pod) September 6, 2025
Middlekauff believed the long 37-yard touchdown was a result of a play that head coach Andy Reid had schemed up and pointed out that Kelce was consistently unable to beat safety Derwin James one-on-one and was never there for a pivotal third down like he had been in the past.
Calling him a shell of himself might be a bit harsh, especially because he is about to turn 36 years old, and the Chiefs once again have plans of playing deep into January and February.
He wasn’t a huge part of the offense early last year either, and it was likely intentional in order to keep him fresher down the stretch.
It looked like he still had plenty of juice on that long touchdown, which was a good sign considering how sharply his yards per catch dropped off last year.
Kelce has played in at least 15 games in each of the last 11 years, with another 25 playoff games tacked on top of that, so calling him a shell of himself after he slimmed down this offseason might be premature.
NEXT: Travis Kelce Gets Honest About His NFL Future