The Kansas City Chiefs have kicked off the 2024 NFL season with a strong 2-0 record, as many expected.
However, a surprising storyline has been the lack of production from star tight end Travis Kelce, who is currently fifth on the team in receiving yards and has yet to find the end zone.
Despite newcomers like Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy making bigger offensive contributions so far, Kelce isn’t letting his slow start get to him.
In the latest episode of New Heights, Kelce’s podcast with his brother Jason, the four-time All-Pro tight end shared his perspective on the situation and made it clear he’s not sweating the numbers.
“There’s a lot of things that have to go right for anybody to get the ball,” Kelce said. “Outside of our running back where you’re literally just handing it to him, if you want to catch the football, one, it has to be the right play, two, it has to be the right coverage, and three, it has to be everybody doing their job up front and on the back end in terms of running the routes for everything to kind of match up and be in sync.
“For whatever reason these past two games, it hasn’t gone that way for me – and that’s football, man. I’m not about to sit here and get frustrated about it. I used to get really really pissed off and almost lose my cool a lot of the time from not having that success, knowing I demand that out of myself.”
Kelce admitted that in earlier years, his lack of production would have triggered frustration. However, he’s learned to take a different approach to the game.
While Kelce may not be racking up big stats early on, he remains a pivotal part of Kansas City’s offense, especially with running back Isiah Pacheco temporarily sidelined.
His focus is on helping the team succeed, and he believes his mindset will lead to the kind of performances he expects of himself.
“I just like to play the game to such a high level of accountability that it’s just tough for me to deal with being mediocre or having stats that represent that,” Kelce said.
“I stopped caring about stats about four or five years ago and I just went out there and started to just play free and wanted to play for my guys. Sure enough, I think that’s a better mentality.”
As the Chiefs aim for a historic Super Bowl three-peat, Kelce’s ability to keep his emotions in check and stay locked into the bigger picture will be crucial.
It seems like only a matter of time before he begins to put up more production. However, like he said, winning means much more to him than stats do.
What are your thoughts on Kelce’s slow start?
Is he starting to lose a step? … Or do you think he will find his All-Pro form sooner rather than later???
