Being in the Heartland of the United States, the Kansas City Chiefs always might not get the exposure that they deserve. But as the Chiefs have made the National Football League Playoffs in three of the last four National Football League seasons, they are hard to ignore with a big reason for their recent success being the emergence of tight end Travis Kelce.
Kelce was selected in the third round of the 2013 National Football League Draft by Kansas City which was subsequently the first draft class for the Chiefs under current head coach Andy Reid. Reid has always had a nose for offensive football, while also having hybrid players which is a mold that Kelce fits into.
At 6’5″, 260 lbs., Kelce is a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses as he possesses the size of a tight end, but the speed of a wide receiver. And if this sounds familiar, Kelce is in the mode of New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski. Both Kelce and Gronkowski wear jersey number 87 and each man is a freak of nature. However Gronkowski plays in a bigger media market and he has been on a Super Bowl Championship team which are two things that Kelce has been unable to enjoy. However with Gronkowski being sidelined with injuries this year, Kelce is emerging as arguably the best tight end in the National Football League.
Since the season began Kelce has been a consistent option in the passing game for Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith. On the season Kelce has 84 receptions for 1,117 and 4 touchdown grabs. Kelce has saved his biggest performances for Kansas City’s stretch run to the postseason as he had 8 receptions for 101 yards in the Chiefs 30-27 victory in Week 12 over the Denver Broncos, while he followed it up with 8 receptions for 140 yards in 29-28 win in Week 13 over the Atlanta Falcons. The Chiefs would face the Broncos once again on Christmas Night, and Kelce he got Denver for 160 yards on 11 receptions which included a 80-yard touchdown grab which saw him weave his way through Denver defenders before turning on the jets and heading for pay dirt.
Kelce has been selected to his second consecutive Pro Bowl, while if the Chiefs want to entertain any legitimate chances for making the Super Bowl for the first time as members of the National Football League, he will need to play a big part of that as the postseason is set to begin in a matter of days.
Kelce is a colorful character which is evident by his many endzone antics after he scores a touchdown, but make no mistake about him being a fierce competitor. In Week 9, Kelce was ejected the Chiefs 19-14 win against the Jacksonville Jaguars after he vehemently disputed the fact that the game officials did not throw a penalty for defensive pass interference against him. Kelce would throw a towel in a the direction of an official in the motion that he was penalizing him and he was subsequently fined nearly $25k by the National Football League for this episode. But since then Kelce has let his play do that talking and he is rapidly becoming one of the better players in football.
Kelce still isn’t the best tight end to play for the Chiefs as that honor goes to Tony Gonzalez. But Kelce has already done some thing that Gonzalez never did during his time with the Chiefs which is be on a team that won a playoff game. The Chiefs do have a legitimate shot to make a deep run into the postseason, and even if they have to use Kelce as a decoy to open things up for other receivers, it will be worth it for Kansas City if they’re able to win their first Super Bowl Championship since the title game was in its infancy.
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