The Kansas City Chiefs, to put things exceedingly mildly, failed to live up to the loft offensive heights they had set for themselves in this past season. The decline of star tight end Travis Kelce is often cited as one of the main reasons that Kansas City has been unable to get itself back to their peak efficiency.
Kelce may not be what he once was, but his skills are still so terrific that it would be a shame to rank him outside the top five when comparing him to the rest of the tight ends in the league. Unfortunately, some outlets believe that his decline is so sharp that he needs to take a step off the proverbial podium.
Pro Football Focus ranked Kelce as the seventh-best tight end in the league, which seems like quite a steep drop-off for a player who was topping these lists not too far ago. Once again, it appears as though the demise of Kelce is being exaggerated by the media.
It's not unreasonable for an All-Pro like George Kittle or someone who had the greatest rookie tight end season ever in Brock Bowers to be ahead of Kelce at this point in time, but putting him down at No. 7 seems like a classic case of someone being underrated to the point where one ro two ht streaks could make this list look foolish.
Pro Football Focus ranks Chiefs' Travis Kelce as No. 7 tight end
Kelce caught 97 passes last season, but he managed only 825 yards and found the end zone just three times. A sluggish start, vanilla offense from Matt Nagy, and a lack of tremendous wide receiver talent to take some of the pressure off him all contributed to these struggles.
Several of the players ranked ahead of Kelce have no business being that high. Minnesota's TJ Hockenson missed half of the season due to injury, Detroit's Sam LaPorta regressed slightly after what was a tremendous debut year with the Lions, and Baltimore's Mark Andrews is being phased out in favor of Isaiah Likely after his crucial playoff blunders.
Even though the days of Kelce ripping off 100-yard games with his eyes closed may officially be in the past, he is still one of the more savvy route-runners and difficult catch-makers out there.
With Patrick Mahomes under center once again, Kelce could end up once again hitting the 1,000-yard barrier if he stays healthy. Maybe another Super Bowl run will help win over the naysayers.