NFL analysts and fans are adamant Travis Kelce is hurtling towards retirement after his latest performance continued the worst form of his NFL career.
Kelce played a peripheral role again on Sunday night as the Kansas City Chiefs extended their perfect start to the season to 3-0 with a 22-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons.
The 34-year-old, whose girlfriend Taylor Swift missed a game for the first time this season, was caught by TV cameras looking particularly miserable on the sideline in a clip which went viral.
Kelce, a three-time Super Bowl champion, only had four catches for 30 yards in Atlanta as his sluggish start to the season continued after similar performances against the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals.
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.’
Another tagged Harrison into their post and wrote: ‘@Rodney_Harrison I see you have a family, but what I don’t see if you saying that your wife is distracting you from your job. Keep Travis’s personal life away from the game, or put yours into it.’
‘There’s no way. Travis stays late at the facility getting more reps in and they decide to say that’, added a third Swiftie.
Kelce’s statistics in comparison to recent years show an obvious downturn in performance.
After his first three games in 2023, Kelce had recorded 17 receptions for 152 yards and two touchdowns.
He opened the 2022 season with 17 receptions for 230 yards and two touchdowns across his first three games.
In the same period in 2021, he managed 20 receptions for 289 yards and three touchdowns.
So far this season he’s yet to score and has only managed eight receptions for 69 yards, which is the lowest for any three-game stretch of his entire career.
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Clip of Travis Kelce looking miserable on Chiefs bench goes viral as he struggles AGAIN for Kansas City – after Taylor Swift skipped game in Atlanta
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Kelce’s potential retirement was talked about heavily towards the end of last season, especially because his brother Jason – who is only two years older – decided to walk away from football in March.
But speaking before the start of this season, Kelce admitted football gives him ‘a purpose’ and that he would find it ‘hard trying to figure out when to call it quits’.
He said: ‘I just love football and how it takes me away from life and it gives me something I can feel genuinely happy about.
‘I enjoy coming in the building, working on my craft, getting to understand a new game plan and perfecting that for the people around me.
It gives me a purpose to kind of go about my day and to live my life, and I just have so much excitement doing it. It’s going to be hard trying to figure out when to call it quits or not.’
Kelce has certainly started planning for life about football with his multitude of commercial deals and fledgling career as an actor and TV presenter.
He will star in an upcoming horror series on FX titled ‘Grotesquerie’ and will host ‘Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?’ that will air on Prime Video. He’s also been lined up for a part in the highly-anticipated ‘Happy Gilmore’ sequel with Adam Sandler.
The Wall Street Journal revealed in December that Kelce had featured in a staggering 375 commercials broadcast during football games. That was the most of any player in the NFL.
His deals, which range from Pfizer to Campbell Soup and Pepsi, were mostly all signed before his love-life was thrown into the public eye but WSJ claimed many of the sponsors rushed forward the release of the Kelce commercials to coincide with his new level of fame.
Kelce also recently penned a $100million deal with Amazon for his wildly popular ‘New Heights’ podcast that he does with brother Jason.
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