Chiefs’ Travis Kelce admits he ‘slipped a little bit’ given off-field pursuits

Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce is the first to admit that his past two seasons haven’t been up to par. His statistics, while still impressive, back that up when considering the standard Kelce set in his previous seven Pro Bowl seasons.

As the world knows, Kelce’s life has been in a brighter spotlight given his highly publicized relationship with Taylor Swift – you’ve likely heard of her – and a slate of off-field ventures. The 35-year-old has hosted Saturday Night Live, landed a role in Ryan Murphy’s Grotesquerie, appeared in Happy Gilmore 2 alongside Adam Sandler, and taken on a hosting gig for Amazon’s Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? He also keeps busy with the New Heights podcast he co-hosts with his brother, Jason, where Swift this week announced her new album.

To that respect, the certain future Pro Football Hall of Famer told GQ in a cover story released Tuesday that some of those pursuits may have impacted his play.

“I think it might have slipped a little bit because I did have a little bit more focus in trying to set myself up,” Kelce said. “And opportunities came up where I was excited to venture into a new world of acting and being an entertainer.”

He was quick to stress he doesn’t regret taking on those opportunities. “I don’t say this as ‘I shouldn’t have done it,’” Kelce said. “I’m just saying that my work ethic is such that I have so much pride in how I do things that I never want the product to tail off, and I feel like these past two years haven’t been to my standard.”

Kelce posted seven consecutive 1,000-yard seasons from 2016 through 2022 before falling short of that mark in each of the past two. The four-time first-team All-Pro and 10-time Pro Bowl selection made 97 receptions for 823 yards last season – his lowest yardage total since 2014 – and had just three touchdown catches, down from a career-high 12 in 2022.

The Chiefs’ loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl last February still lingers for him. “I just have such a motivation to show up this year for my guys,” Kelce said.

As for what comes next when his NFL career ends, Kelce isn’t entirely sure. “I don’t necessarily know if I’ll take it and run with it when I’m done playing,” he told GQ. “But I know that I want to stay around the football world as a profession and then dabble in other areas as well.”

Kelce also addressed the constant attention surrounding his relationship with Swift, who was a regular at Chiefs games last season. “Whenever I’m with her, we’re just regular people,” he said. “When there is not a camera on us, we’re just two people that are in love. It can be perceived as something else because of how much it is talked about and how much we are tracked whenever we do go out, but I would say that it’s as normal of … it happened very organically even though from a media standpoint it was being tracked.”

He added: “Nothing I’ve ever done has been a controlled, organized process. When I say it was so organic, we fell in love just based off the people we were sitting in a room together with. We are two fun-loving people who have the morals to appreciate everyone for who they are. We share all those values. It kind of just took the fuck off.”

Kelce will have the chance to prove his renewed focus when the Chiefs open their season at home against the Los Angeles Chargers on 5 September.

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