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Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is in love. Now, before you dive deep down into the Taylor Swift rabbit hole and what that means for her next album, keep in mind that Kelce is professing his love for football ahead of the Chiefs’ Super Bowl 59 matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday.
Kelce has been around the league for a long time now. He’s burst onto the national pop-culture scene ever since he started dating Swift in the summer of 2023, but real NFL fans know that Kelce has been killing it long before he decided to date the world’s most famous person.
He’s a ten-time Pro Bowler, a four-time All-Pro and a three-time Super Bowl Champion. He notched seven-straight seasons with 1,000-plus receiving yards from 2016 through 2022 — which is incredible production for a tight end — and he has three double-digit touchdown seasons (2018, 2020 and 2022).
Kelce was a legend far before he became a Swiftie, and though he has slowed down a bit at 3- years-old, he still led the Chiefs in receiving yards this season with 823 and he absolutely came to play in the playoffs.
Kelce notched seven catches for 117 yards and a touchdown against the Houston Texans in Kansas City’s Divisional Round win, which isn’t half bad for an older player who many considered “washed” for much of this 2024-25 campaign.
The thing is, Kelce isn’t washed. He’s not even close to that. His priorities have changed a bit as a player as he’s grown older, though. As he tells it at Super Bowl 59 media days, he’s still got a “full heart of football” left in him, but what he focuses on now is a bit different, via Adam Teicher of ESPN.
“Early on in my career I think a lot of my motivation was driven off of individual success, wanting to get that acknowledgement of my peers, of the people watching the game that I was somebody fun to watch or I was worth watching, or I was worth having on your team,” Kelce said. “Nowadays I just love going to work with the guys that I’m in the building with.”
“I love sharing these memories. I love figuring out these game plans, figuring out how we’re going to attack a defense,” Kelce continued. “There’s just a certain love that I’ve found in it, and I think it’s because of the people that I go to work with.”
That’s a 12-year veteran and highly accomplished player still finding joy and love in the little details of the game. He’s no longer worried about being flashy and being the guy that everyone wants to be. Instead, he’s focused on being a good teammate and focusing in on the nitty-gritty of what makes the grind of NFL football unique.
He’s also been trying to be a leader for the Chiefs.
“I feel like this year I kind of stepped into a role of being more of a voice...
