There’s no way to sugarcoat Travis Kelce’s performance through three games this season.
The Kansas City Chiefs star tight end has eight catches for 69 yards. Those are the numbers you would expect from a reserve.
Mike Francesa talked about Kelce’s poor play on The Mike Francesa Podcast Monday, saying he’s “not playing worth a damn.” And he thinks it’s because Kelce is too distracted these days.
A seven-time All-Pro, Kelce is now 34, and under normal circumstances, it would be reasonable to wonder if Father Time has caught up to him. But Kelce has not been living under normal circumstances for the past year or so. He’s dating Taylor Swift. He’s doing commercials. He and his brother Jason just reached a $100 million deal with Amazon to distribute their popular New Heights podcast. He’s pursuing an acting career, including a cameo role in Happy Gilmore 2.
Francesa believes all that off-field activity is having an effect on Kelce.
“As an organization, 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 opps. You see him now very conscious of how he’s dressed … and where the paparazzi are and everything else … and you wonder where does football and football preparation enter into that?
“It is a very fair question, 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 being a non-factor game after game, which is puzzling. But again, how much of that is on him, how much of that is on his preparation and his dedication?”
Mike Francesa questions Travis Kelce’s current level of dedication to football, given all of the outside distractions in his life. #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/mrDUevcMes
— Funhouse (@BackAftaThis) September 23, 2024
“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,” Francesa continued. “He’s now prancing around the globe with one of the most famous people in the world, his life is a photo opp. What he’s got on is a topic of conversation.
“Right now, he’s not playing worth a damn. And it just brings up very legitimate questions.”
For what it’s worth, Francesa isn’t the only media member wondering if Kelce’s off-field lifestyle is catching up with him.
[Funhouse]
