Chiefs not lowering expectations for Travis Kelce

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Travis Kelce ended the 2024 NFL season with career lows in yards and touchdowns — 823 and three, respectively. He looked like he might be nearing the end of one of the greatest tight end careers in NFL history. At 35 years old, an advanced age for his position, he often looked average on the field — other than a vintage Kelce stretch of games during the middle of the season.

Then he caught seven passes for 117 yards and a touchdown in the Kansas City Chiefs’ divisional playoff win over the Houston Texans, single-handedly dragging an otherwise lethargic passing game into the AFC Championship Game.

“We’ve all seen it over the last few years,” general manager Brett Veach said. “There are periods throughout the season where you’re like, ‘This might be it.’ But when the games are the most important and the lights are the brightest, he finds it somewhere.”

With Kelce turning 36 in October, the Chiefs expect that in 2025 he will still be the player they know well.

“The great ones know how to find it,” Veach said. “They know where it’s buried, and they know how to access it. And they can’t access it at that age week in and week out, but when they need it, they know how to find it.”

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Still, the Chiefs are trying to steer themselves away from needing Kelce the way they have in recent seasons by planning to shift some of the receiving burden to others.

At wide receiver, they should see the return of Rashee Rice, who was leading the league in receptions through three games last year before a Week 4 knee injury ended his season. They also re-signed Hollywood Brown and are expecting a jump in production from Xavier Worthy, who caught 59 passes as a rookie last season. At tight end, the Chiefs also have Noah Gray, who last season set career highs in catches (40), yards (437) and touchdowns (five).

That doesn’t mean the expectations are minimal for Kelce, who will be playing under the final year of a two-year, $34.25 million contract extension he signed last year.

“I expect Travis to be Travis,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “Obviously, the play on the field’s going to be high. He’s going to go out there with the mentality that we’re trying to win the Super Bowl this year with us falling short this last year. Then, I think more than anything, it’s the leadership that he brings to the building every single day. How he leads by example and how he leads vocally, it’s a big impact on our football team, so I expect him to play at a high level and then be an even better leader.

“From what I’ve seen … he’s ready to go. He’s been putting in the work this offseason, and he’s excited for another chance to make a run at it.”

Kelce has always played a high percentage of the snaps for the Chiefs, and last year was no different. In fact, he played more snaps (950) and was in the lineup for a higher percentage of the Chiefs’ offensive plays (81.8%) than in any season since 2019.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid indicated he’s unlikely to change plans for Kelce, saying he’s “not really feeling” the need to cut back on Kelce’s playing time.

“It’ll be similar to last year,” Reid said. “… He’s in great shape right now, so I think he’s looking forward to getting going.

“I always watch him. I always keep an eye on him. I know he’s getting older. He doesn’t know he’s getting older, but I do. I can be the bad guy in some cases there, if needed. If I think it’s catching up to him a little bit, I’ll pull off and put him where he needs to be. Other than that, he hasn’t showed me any of that yet. He’s done really well with it.”

Kelce took some time after the Chiefs’ Super Bowl LIX loss to the Philadelphia Eagles to decide whether he wanted to play another season, his 12th in the NFL. But he made his decision in relatively short order and said it wasn’t a difficult choice and that he had more good football in him.

He indicated he wanted to put himself through what he called a more rigorous offseason workout schedule than last year.

“That decision for me needs to be made back in March or early April,” Kelce said. “You set the tone and put a regimen together that gets your mindset and gets your body [right] and really from there you can start to tweak your skill set. So it’s just everything involved. You have to evolve every single year in all phases of the game. So you already know that started back in March and so far we’re on track.”

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Even if his other numbers weren’t up to Kelce’s standard last year, he still caught 97 passes, tied for the fourth-highest total of his career. He still ranked fifth in yardage among tight ends, behind Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, George Kittle and Jonnu Smith. But that happened during a season when Rice and Brown played in only a small fraction of the games.

If they stay healthy, along with Worthy and Gray, Kelce’s streak of leading the Chiefs in catches and yards will likely come to an end at three. That wouldn’t necessarily mean the Chiefs look at his season as a disappointment.

“His numbers won’t be the same,” Veach said. “You have to acknowledge … that he’s older. He’s not 28 years old. But everything runs more efficiently when that guy is out there. He’s still going to demand the attention or at least the occasional eyes of primary defenders just because of his name and his legacy.

“Having Travis on the field makes us better. I don’t know if I look at it in terms of expectations for yardage or touchdowns or catches. When he’s on the field, he makes us better. He’s also a guy who makes the people around him better.”