Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce is undoubtedly one of the greatest tight ends ever. But after a crucial mistake in Sunday’s matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, a fellow all-time great tight end, Shannon Sharpe, had an incredibly harsh assessment of Kelce’s current form.
If you strictly look at the box score, you would likely have thought that Kelce had a pretty solid game, leading all of the receiving options on the Chiefs with 61 receiving yards on his four receptions in the game.
However, Kelce’s biggest mistake in the game was certainly a crushing one. In the fourth quarter facing a 13-10 deficit, Patrick Mahomes was able to deliver a strike into the end zone that hit Kelce in the hands. But Kelce seemingly didn’t get his head turned around in time for the pass, resulting in him now being able to haul in the catch. The pass would then be caught off of Kelce’s hands by Eagles safety Andrew Mukuba and returned for 41 yards.
PICKED!!
The ball goes off of Travis Kelce and the Eagles get the INT!
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/XsOz5JjTUp
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 14, 2025
The mistake from Kelce would ultimately result in a 14-point swing in favor of the Eagles, as they would go on to score a touchdown on the following drive, putting the game out of reach in the process.
4th and goal. Brotherly Shove TD. Never a doubt.
PHIvsKC on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/X8kwVGKItw
— NFL (@NFL) September 14, 2025
It’s certainly rare that you see Kelce not come through with an opportunity at the goal line like that. And according to Shannon Sharpe, the mistake was all due to Kelce not getting his head turned around in time, an error Sharpe feels has been increasingly common for Kelce in recent years.
“Their receivers, they got guys, Ocho,” said Shannon on Sunday’s edition of his Nightcap podcast. “No matter what you say, they have got guys. Juju (Smith-Schuster) is a guy. Hollywood Brown has become a guy. They are guys. Kelce has been lazy. He’s getting lazy with his head and he’s getting lazy with his eyes. He knows in that area of the field, he has to snap his head. He knows, I don’t know why he is so lazy with his head. There is nobody inside, and Blankenship has got you manned. Why are you so lazy? Your head, you have got to snap it around, you know that. And you took points off the board. In other words, you don’t get points and they go down and they get points.
“Ocho, they have got guys. I don’t care how great Mahomes is, he’s not overcoming that. I keep telling you, (Isiah) Pacheco is a guy. You can find 50 guys in the NFL that can do exactly what Isiah Pacheco can do. Kareem Hunt is past his prime, he’s just a guy. They have got guys. There is nothing special about anybody on that team right now offensively other than Patrick Mahomes.”
Sharpe has been incredibly complimentary of Kelce in the past, even proclaiming him to be the greatest tight end in the history of football. But it is certainly hard to argue with many of Sharpe’s assessments here. Kelce knows that he needs to do a far better job of being prepared for a pass in that instance.
Given the fact that Sharpe certainly knows what he is talking about when it comes to the tight end position, maybe Sharpe’s criticisms will be what Kelce needs to improve on that front in the future. But as for the rest of the Chiefs problems that Sharpe called out, it sure seems like someone in the Chiefs offense will need to emerge in short order if they want to turn things around in 2025.