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There aren’t many current NFL players who are considered locks for future enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Travis Kelce, the Chiefs‘ seven-time Pro Bowl tight end, is one of those players. A former quarterback in high school, the Westlake, Ohio, native has become one of the most prolific tight ends in NFL history. His play has helped the Chiefs reach a dynastic level of success over the past decade.
The owner of several NFL records, Kelce recently passed fellow Hall of Fame All-2010s Team member Rob Gronkowski for fifth all time in receiving yards by a tight end. Kelce passed Gronkowski while helping the Chiefs defeat the Buccaneers last Sunday night in a rematch of Super Bowl LV. The win helped the Chiefs improve to 3-1 entering Monday night’s game against the Raiders.
Kelce recently spent some of his 33rd birthday speaking with CBS Sports on a variety of topics. Among those discussed included his chances at one day breaking Tony Gonzalez’s tight end receiving career record, when he knew that Patrick Mahomes was a different breed of quarterback, and the current state of the Chiefs offense.
Many sports fans have superstitions. I understand that you’ve teamed with Tide to help tackle one specific superstition?
TK: We all know that everybody has that lucky jersey, that lucky clothing item that they just don’t want to wash because they don’t want to wash the luck off of it. We’re here to tell you that you don’t have to worry about that anymore. With Tide Hygienic Clean, you can still wash your jersey and keep the luck on it.
Tide’s doing a giveaway where fans can win prizes based off what they would do to wash their jersey, including tickets to a future NFL game. Have you gotten any funny responses?
TK: There’s been a few date night requests from a lot of the Chiefs Kingdom. A lot of dinner requests. Maybe some Top Golf requests. A bunch of stuff that I’m sure would be absolutely hilarious and fun. But for the most part, everybody is just asking for tickets for Chiefs games.
Speaking of jerseys, I’m sure you remember those old school ’90s jerseys that had a tendency to wear due to to too many trips to the laundry.
TK: You know I grew up on all of those. I actually still collect a lot of those old school Starter, Champion and Nike jerseys from the ’90s era. You dry those things a little too much, the numbers, names and logos start to peel off of those things. I grew up loving Brett Favre. It was probably the one jersey that I wore more than others. It wasn’t necessarily a lucky jersey for me, it was just the one that I loved to wear the most.
Growing up close to Cleveland, were you a Browns fan growing up?
TK: I’ve always kind of been a Browns fan for the most part. Cheering for Cleveland sports all around. When they got shipped to Baltimore, I just started to become a fan of certain players on certain teams. Brett Favre probably being the biggest one. Jerome Bettis, we got all the Steelers games from that point on. I loved watching him. Those two were probably the biggest influences on me in terms of the NFL when I was a kid.
How did you get away with wearing a Bettis jersey that close to Cleveland?
TK: I didn’t say I was wearing it (laughs). I just said he was one of my players. I went far enough way from the AFC North and went more to the NFC side to stay away from any conflicts.
What did it mean to you to pass Rob Gronkowski on the all-time receiving yardage list for the tight end position?
TK: It was an honor before I passed Gronk, to be on a list with those guys. It really makes me appreciate the journey that I’ve been on to this point. How fortunate I am to be able to find the love and the passion to play the tight end position, knowing that I was a quarterback in college. I really found a love for the tight end position because of the guys that did it the best: Tony Gonzalez, Gronk, Shannon Sharpe, Jason Witten, Antonio Gates. I really found love for the game and had a lot of pride doing it the right way.
You mentioned being a Cleveland sports fan. LeBron, a longtime Cav, is close to passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA career scoring record. Any thoughts on one day possibly breaking Gonzalez’s career record for receiving yards by a tight end?
TK: LeBron is way closer to Kareem than I am (laughs). I still feel like I’m still an entire careers worth of stats away from catching any of Tony’s career records. It’s taking it day by day. That’s how I got to this point. Hopefully, these legs don’t stop turning any time soon so that I can keep playing this game that I love.
It seems like your team is really having fun during the early weeks of the season. How fun is it to be a Chiefs player right now?
TK: It’s a blast. It’s not just on game days. … It’s every single day you walk in the building. It’s the culture the Chiefs created. …The front office has done an unbelievable job of bringing in great character people. It just makes coming into work that much more fun knowing that you’re getting guys that really care about the outcome of those whole thing, and they just want to be there for the person next to them.
There were some people doubting whether the offense will continue to be prolific after the offseason personnel changes. Does part of you and your teammates want to say ‘I told you so’ to your doubters or is it too early for that?
TK: You just have to keep approaching it as I need to get better every single day. Don’t get caught up in trying to be that replacement filler or that guy that has to be the Tyreek (Hill) of this offense. Everybody is going to have a role through coach Reid’s game plan. As long as we’re attacking it like that and making sure that we’re just doing our jobs … everything is going to play itself out.
You’ve been able to spend the past five years playing alongside another player who will likely end up in the Hall of Fame in Patrick Mahomes. When did you realize that he was going to be special?
TK: It was probably during the practice week his rookie year. During that season, he was absolutely tearing the defense in terms of the scout team. He was doing it in a way that almost looked like he was toying with them. At that point, you could tell that he had a natural feel for the game that was unlike a lot of other players. And sure enough, with the leadership of not only coach Reid and the offensive staff we had, but also Alex Smith, a guy that’s very professional. With all of that at his disposal, it just looked like it was going to be an awesome transition into Pat being a Hall of Fame type player, even though it’s so early. If he keeps this up, which I think he will (laughs), he’ll be in a gold jacket for sure.
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