It’s three wins in a row for the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes but the big story of the start to their season has been Travis Kelce‘s poor form, with questions of his motivation beginning to creep in after Sunday’s match with the Atlanta Falcons.
The 34-year-old, who turns 35 in November, is regarded as one of the finest tight ends in NFL history but through the opening three rounds looks like a shadow of himself.
He has made just eight receptions for 69 yards and he’s scored no touchdowns in the 2024/25 NFL season. To put that into context, Kelce usually averages six catches per game based on the previous nine years but at current pace he will make only around 45 throughout the season.
It’s leaving fans wondering if he is physically past it and can’t keep up with the league, or if he’s no longer motivated after three Super Bowl championships but both of those are unlikely to be the case.
Fan’s worries about Travis Kelce
The household name came into the preseason training camp after enjoying a good summer off with his girlfriend, Taylor Swift, and was ready to go to get back into the swings declaring his desire to win a Super Bowl three-peat.
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In doing so, he would become the first and only tight end to ever achieve three successive Super Bowl wins with one franchise and his frustrations from his isolation on the field show he isn’t happy a backseat role.
Why is Kelce struggling?
With injuries to Hollywood Brown and Isiah Pacheco, the Chiefs’ offense is looking a little sparse and Patrick Mahomes has already admitted Kelce’s not a regular target because of how often he’s being singled out and shut down by rival defenses.
“They did have some things that they were attempting there,” head coach Andy Reid said of Kelce and Mahomes. “He’ll [Kelce] get his catches. It’s not that he’s slowing down or any of that bit, that’s not what the deal is.
“It’s just teams focus on him and kind of know he’s been Pat’s go-to guy. What it’s done though is that it’s allowed us to utilize the other guys around him and they’ve been productive.”
Mahomes also pointed out that he’s not doing a great job of creating the openings for Kelce to thrive by failing to target Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy enough so that the latter pair begin drawing defenders to them and away from the tight end.
