Mike Francesa claimed that while Travis Kelce is “prancing around the globe” with his girlfriend Taylor Swift, it would be “silly” for the Chiefs and head coach Andy Reid to ignore the fact that Kelce is a dedicated football player.
The host of the “Mike Francesa Podcast,” which recently aired, talked about how the Chiefs tight end’s play has drastically declined and speculated that, in his twelfth NFL season, he might be preoccupied with his celebrity.
“As an organization and as a coach, you would have to question how dedicated Kelce is to the sport right now,” Francesa said. “He has a lot going on in his life. His life has taken a radical change. You see him in commercials, you see him in photo ops, you see him now very conscious of how he’s dressed… and where the paparazzi are and everything else.
“It changed his life. And you wonder, where does football and where does football preparation enter into that.”
The 34-year-old Swift and Kelce began dating in the summer of last year, and in October they made their romance public by going out together while holding hands in New York City.
Since then, Kelce has appeared on the cover of WSJ Magazine, in several ads, and on television shows. He will host the upcoming Amazon series “Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?”
However, Kelce’s on-field performance to begin the 2024 NFL season hasn’t been as good.
As we approach Week 4, he has eight catches for 69 yards and no touchdowns.
“When you see safeties strip the ball out of his hands in big spots, when you see listless pattern running from him, when you see him be a non-factor game after game, which is puzzling — but again, how much of that is on him?” Francesa said.
“How much of that is on his preparation and dedication? And it is fair to bring that full circle and to mention that?”
“… Clearly at this stage of his career, you wonder where he is in his dedication, in his preparation, because his performance has fallen off dramatically. And it’s not just, ‘oh the Chiefs are going away from Kelce.’ It’s more than that.
“… It’s extremely human. His life has changed. He’s now prancing around the globe with one of the most famous people in the world. His life is a photo op.”
Francesa continued by explaining that Jason Kelce, the big brother of the Chiefs star, chose to concentrate on his off-field prospects only after he retired from the NFL in March.
The brothers agreed to pay $100 million to Amazon in August so that the company could host their podcast, “New Heights.”
“What he’s got on is a topic of conversation. He’s doing commercials with his brother who is no longer in the sport. His brother now can worry about being a personality and doing commercials and appearances and the podcast because he’s not playing anymore,” Francesa said.
“But nobody expected [Travis] Kelce to not play anymore. And right now, he’s not playing worth a damn and it just brings up very legitimate questions.”
Although he isn’t close enough to the situation to know for sure, Francesa continued, saying it “would be crazy” to think Kelce’s life off the field hasn’t affected his playing.
“But how much does that mean to the Chiefs who just continue to find a way [to win close games against the Ravens and Bengals],” he said.
Kelce had very little influence on the Chiefs’ third straight victory to begin the season.
In the Chiefs’ 22-17 victory over the Falcons in Atlanta on Sunday night, the three-time Super Bowl champion, who was limited in the passing game in Kansas City’s first two wins, finished with four catches on five targets for 30 yards.
The best friend Kelce has off the field, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, had an explanation for why the nine-time Pro Bowler hasn’t been open as much: teams are focusing their coverage on Kelce.
It’s absurd because teams still regard Travis with an almost unbelievable level of respect. Mahomes declared following Sunday’s victory over Atlanta, “It’s well-deserved.” “Two or three people are going to Travis when we call a lot of plays for him. He knows, and that’s what’s so fantastic about him: he wants to win in the end, but he also wants to have an impact on the game.
“I’m gonna try to do my best to keep feeding him the ball whenever he’s there, whenever he’s open. I think the more [second-year wideout] Rashee [Rice] makes plays, the more we’re able to run the football, the more we can get [receiver Xavier] Worthy involved, I think that’s going to open Travis up more. People are really emphasizing trying to take him away and that’s getting other guys open.”
Kelce also addressed his slow start on his “New Heights” podcast following Week 2.
“I used to get really, really pissed off and almost lose my cool a lot of the time from not having that success knowing that I demand that out of myself and I just like to play the game to such a high level of accountability that it’s just tough for me to deal with being mediocre or having stats that represent that,” Kelce said last Wednesday.
“For whatever reason, these past two games it hasn’t gone that way for me and that’s football, man. I’m not about to sit here and get frustrated about it.”
Palmer McAllister
Amy Cooper
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