Former NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski thinks Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce hasn’t lost a step this season despite his on-field production being down and his celebrity profile blossoming.
‘Sometimes numbers will drop because it’s a team game,’ Gronkowski told Forbes. ‘He doesn’t really have that much help from the wide receiver position, but when you do see the ball in his hands, he looks like the same player he has been the last decade.’ ‘The guy’s moving, he’s getting open, he’s making plays, he’s making defenders miss, he’s shaking off defenders to get open at the top off the routes,’ Gronkowski continued about Kelce. ‘So (I) don’t really a see a drop-off at all.’
Kelce has drawn harsh criticism this season as his statistics are down across the board for his elite standards. At the same time, his off-field celebrity status has skyrocketed since beginning a relationship with Taylor Swift in September.
The 34-year-old future Hall of Famer has traveled to Argentina to see Swift perform and been spotted by paparazzi with his girlfriend in New York City. Gronkowski’s belief becomes public a day after an unidentified general manager told The Athletic he believed Kelce’s career could be almost over. ‘It is funny you say that,’ the unnamed general manager told The Athletic. ‘I was watching him run down on that Hail Mary (against Green Bay), and I was thinking he might be almost done. I say that understanding he has been productive at times this year.
‘But you know what the first sign of decline for a player like Travis Kelce is? That he is not the same player late in the season. It means his body is not recovering,’ the anonymous general manager continued.
Kelce has cemented himself as one of the greatest tight ends in NFL history since entering the league in 2013. He’s an 8-time Pro Bowl selection, a 2-time First Team All-Pro honoree and a 2-time Super Bowl champion. The co-host of the ‘New Heights’ podcast with older brother and Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce also holds several NFL records.
The younger Kelce holds the league record for receiving yards in a single season by a tight end (1,416), as well as being the only tight end to have seven seasons of 1,000-plus-yards receiving, which the Chief did consecutively. Kelce recently also became the fastest tight end to ever to reach 11,000 career receiving yards, doing so in 154 games.
Evidenced by Sunday’s non-touchdown lateral against the Buffalo Bills, Kelce still has a game-changing ability few NFL contemporaries can match. However, Kelce himself has been open about how his career is closer to winding down than people may realize, even if he’s still producing at a high level. ‘That’s the only thing I’ve never really been open about, the discomfort. The pain,’ Kelce told the Wall Street Journal in a recent interview. ‘The lingering injuries – the 10 surgeries I’ve had that I still feel every single surgery to this day.’
The discussion for who the best tight end in NFL history is wouldn’t be complete without Kelce or Gronkowski, as both dominated the position this century, with Tony Gonzalez also brought up as a strong option. And with his NFL experience, Gronkowski doesn’t see Kelce’s ability slipping. ‘He deserves all the honors that he’s getting,’ Gronkowski told Forbes. ‘And I don’t think his play has dropped off much at all, man. I truly don’t.’ ‘There’s going to be some big moments where he’s going to shine for sure,’ he said. ‘That’s when he always comes through.’
