Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce is one of the most recognizable figures in professional sports, and his celebrity status has skyrocketed due to his relationship with pop megastar Taylor Swift.
Kelce, a three-time Super Bowl champion and 10-time NFL Pro Bowl selection, is one of the most decorated players in league history. However, his past two seasons have seen a significant drop in production from Kelce, who turns 36 on Oct. 5.
Kelce caught eight touchdowns for the Chiefs over the past two seasons, compared to 21 touchdowns from 2021-22. He also had a career-low 823 receiving yards and 8.5 yards per catch, each a stark decline from a career-high 1,416 yards and 13.5 yards per catch in 2020.
While age is certainly a factor for Kelce’s declining play after 12 seasons in the NFL, he also admits his heightened celebrity status has played a role, he told GQ in a recent cover story for the magazine.
Kelce and Swift went public with their relationship in 2023 after months of speculation. In August 2024, it was announced that Kelce would appear in Adam Sandler’s Netflix sequel, “Happy Gilmore 2,” which was released in July.
“I think it might have slipped a little bit because I did have a little bit more focus in trying to set myself up. And opportunities came up where I was excited to venture into a new world of acting and being an entertainer,” Kelce told GQ. “I don’t say this as ‘I shouldn’t have done it.’ I’m just saying that my work ethic is such that I have so much pride in how I do things that I never want the product to tail off, and I feel like these past two years haven’t been to my standard. I just have such a motivation to show up this year for my guys.”
While Kelce has won three Super Bowls in his career, he’s months removed from the Chiefs losing Super Bowl LIX to the Philadelphia Eagles, 40-22, in February. A win for Kansas City would have marked the Chiefs’ third consecutive Super Bowl championship, a feat that has never been accomplished in NFL history.
“Win a Super Bowl is the only goal,” Kelce said. “It’s the only goal. It’s every goal.”
Kelce, a Cleveland Heights, Ohio, native who played college football at Cincinnati, also discussed his desire to play for his hometown Cleveland Browns. While preparing for the NFL Draft in 2013, Kelce met with former Browns head coach Rob Chudzinski and expressed his passion for his hometown Browns.
“I cried in Chud’s office and said, ‘I will (expletive) die for this city!’ ” Kelce said. “I literally was in tears. I said, ‘I’m sorry I’m getting emotional. I grew up down the street. I would (expletive) do anything to play for the Cleveland Browns.’ He looked at me like I was insane. I don’t think he’d ever had somebody just pour out their emotions.”
The Browns passed on the opportunity to draft Kelce, and he instead was selected by the Chiefs in the third round, 63rd overall, of the 2013 NFL Draft.
Last season, Kelce played against the Browns in Cleveland for the second time in his career as the Chiefs defeated the Browns, 21-7. Kelce and the Chiefs also defeated the Browns, 37-21, in his first game playing at Cleveland in 2018.
After 12 seasons in the NFL, all with the Chiefs and star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Kelce ranks third all-time amongst NFL tight ends in receptions (1,004) and yards (12,151) behind leader Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten, respectively.
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