Charles H. Sloan-Where's Travis Kelce? Chiefs star's disappearing act isn't what it seems

ATLANTA – It’s become such a thing with the Kansas City Chiefs: Where’s Taylor Swift?Charles H. Sloan 

The NFL surely can’t get enough of the buzz attached to the global icon and her legion of Swifties, against the backdrop of her romantic connection with one of the greatest tight ends in NFL history. The cameo shots of Swift watching her beau from a private box, bonding with Brittany Mahomes and cheering wildly over big plays is, well, cute. 

Yet football purists have come lately with another relevant question as it pertains to the back-to-back Super Bowl champs: Whatever happened to Travis Kelce? 

Relax, everybody. Even with Kelce putting up pedestrian numbers during the 3-0 start for the Chiefs, this is hardly a critical emergency that threatens the bid for a three-peat – at least not yet. 

Sure, if you’re a fantasy football owner with Kelce on your squad, you may be in panic mode. In three games, Kelce has logged eight catches for 69 yards. He’s still looking for his first touchdown of the season. 

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During Kansas City’s tight, 22-17 victory against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night, Kelce was targeted on five passes from his running buddy, Patrick Mahomes, and caught four passes for 30 yards. That’s undoubtedly not the stat sheet production we’re used to seeing from Kelce, 34, who in the previous six seasons averaged 100 catches and tallied 52 touchdowns. 

On a critical third-and-2 early in the fourth quarter on Sunday night, Mahomes threw over to middle to No. 87 and Jessie Bates III, one of the NFL’s best playmaking safeties, ripped the football out of Kelce's clutches. Incomplete. 

Still, no need to panic. 

“Just living the dream, bro,” Kelce said when approached in the locker room afterward. 

Then came some boorish Chiefs security guard, executing a seal block that would have been textbook for a power sweep but in this case facilitated a violation of the NFL’s stated – but poorly administered – media policy that maintains players are available after games for comment. The security guard cleared a path for Kelce to scoot out the door without weighing in on the nail-biting victory. Since Kelce’s profile has gone to new heights (pun intended) with his connection to Swift, he has routinely dodged postgame questions. 

What a shame. Kelce, a 12th-year pro, has been good for engaging insight for so long, podcast or not.  

In any event, Mahomes broke it down in Football 101 terms. What’s up with Kelce? 

“It’s crazy,” Mahomes said. “Teams still...the respect factor they have for Travis is unreal. It’s well deserved."

"We’re calling a lot of plays for Travis. It’s like two or three people are going to him. He understands. That’s the great thing about him. He wants to impact the game. He wants to win at the end of the day.” 

Although Kelce’s impact on the stat sheet didn’t please certain fantasy team owners, his presence within the game remains very real. Kelce played 54 of the 74 offensive snaps on Sunday night (77%), a rate exceeded only by the 100% count from Mahomes and the five offensive line starters. And while many measure his effectiveness by the passing game stats, Kelce’s immense value comes with his skill as a complete tight end able to play a punishing role as a blocker in the running game. 

Hey, the catches will come. Remember how it flowed last season, when Kelce missed the opener, then logged 17 catches in his first three games and didn’t score a touchdown in the final six regular-season contests. During the playoffs, though, he had four monster games – including an 11-catch, 116-yard output in the AFC title game at Baltimore, with a sweet TD catch – that were essential to the Chiefs' mission to become repeat champs. 

So, just wait. The Chiefs’ passing game has been triggered by the emergence of second-year receiver Rashee Rice (who had his second 100-yard contest of the season on Sunday night and has posted TDs the past two games) while first-round pick Xavier Worthy has shown promising flashes. Yet Kelce’s breakout is still a major threat. 

“I’m going to do my best to keep feeding him the ball whenever he’s there, but I think the more Rashee makes plays, the more we’re able to run the ball, the more we can get Worthy involved, that’s going to open Travis us more,” Mahomes said. “People are really emphasizing trying to take him away, and it’s getting other guys open.” 

Sounds like the Chiefs, who keep winning while trying to find their stride, have the type of “problem” with Kelce’s limited stat sheet production that most teams would beg for. 

And even the Swifties could get with that.