Kelce has had the lowest production through any three-game spell of his entire career to start the 2024 season, and has been slammed by analysts and fans alike.
Many have pointed to his hectic off-season and life away from football with Taylor Swift as a potential reason for his on-field decline, but Kelce has now spoken out and insists: ‘It’s football, baby!’
Speaking on the latest episode of his New Heights podcast alongside now-retired brother Jason, Travis said: ‘I’ve had a lot of catches in this league, man. I’m not worried about the catches and the yards, and all of that, I have the most fun when I get the ball thrown my way, I mean, who doesn’t?
‘It has everything to do with execution and just making sure we’re doing everything we can to win these football games, that’s always going to be the goal. I think everyone saw my drop in the fourth quarter and the crucial third down, just trying to do too much before putting the ball away.
‘That’s probably the biggest thing for me is making the play in big-time moments like that. I think with how defenses are playing us right now, I’m not really getting a lot of opportunities to make plays down the field, but not using that as an excuse.
‘Moving forward, still trying to make sure I can help the team out in that regard knowing I’ve been that weapon for us in the past. Moving forward, everyone’s just tweaking their game in the right direction.’
In every season of his career so far, tight end Kelce has averaged over 10 yards per reception a game, but this season he is down at 8.6 and has only had eight catches through three games.
While the Chiefs have managed to win all three of their games – against the Ravens, Bengals and Falcons – quarterback Patrick Mahomes has got the ball to his best friend Kelce far less than many expected.
The reason for that is unclear, but Kelce is determined to keep plugging away and believes change is coming.
‘Whatever it is, it’s football, baby,’ he added. ‘I’m not getting caught up in getting the targets and all that, I just want to have a successful offense and I think Pat is doing a great job of finding the open guy and making the right decisions right now, and we have to keep finding, it’s a new offense, new players, new pieces and we’re just finding how to have success throughout the season.
‘As an offense, you’re going to go through these ups and downs throughout the season and you just want to make sure that you clean up all the mistakes, you’re making sure that you’re communicating so that everybody understands exactly where we’re going moving forward.
‘Nobody does it better than coach [Andy] Reid and Pat Mahomes in that regard.’
Kelce was spotted on the sidelines looking particularly miserable on Sunday night, and it was coincidentally the first game that his girlfriend Swift has missed this year.
NBC’s lead analyst Cris Collinsworth admitted he was ‘flabbergasted’ by Kelce on Sunday night, having also watched him struggle in week one against the Ravens.
He said on commentary: ‘I’m just flabbergasted. I mean, one game, big deal. Two games, alright.
‘This is the third game now where we have not seen the magic of (Patrick) Mahomes and Kelce, and I can’t really explain that one.’
Rodney Harrison, another NBC analyst, blamed Kelce’s latest lackluster performance on his other commitments.
He said: ‘He’s busy. He’s got a lot on his plate. You think about it. He’s doing a lot of different things. Media-wise, he’s playing football, he’s got other things going on.
‘When you’re in that situation you’ve got to forget about everything else and focus 100 per cent on football. That’s the main responsibility.
‘He (Kelce) just doesn’t have the same speed. He’s a good player still but I don’t believe he’s a great, great player.’
Perhaps the clearest indication of Kelce’s tumbling support in football right now is that his loudest supporters are Taylor Swift fans.
The criticism, in particular from Harrison, drew a furious reaction from Swifties and they took to social media to defend him.
One posted: ‘This is such a bs talking point. Because if you actually paid attention to Trav, he’s 150% locked in on football.
‘Outside of the podcast (that he films on his off day), we do not see him. All of the “stuff” you see him involved with was done during the off season. I’m tired.’