Travis Kelce is off to an anemic start to his season.
The star tight end has generated just eight catches for 69 yards, both the fewest in any three-game span within a single season of his career. Kelce has run 82 routes in 2024, averaging 0.8 yards per route run, per Next Gen Stats.
Despite the slow start for the 34-year-old, he's not fretting. On the latest episode of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce, the tight end said Patrick Mahomes is simply finding the open guy.
"Whatever it is, it's football, baby. Come on now," Kelce said. "I'm not getting caught up in getting the targets and all that. I just want to have a successful offense. I think Pat's doing a great job of finding the open guy and making the right decisions right now. We just have to keep finding… It's a new offense, new players, new pieces, and we're just finding how to have success throughout the season."
The nine-time Pro Bowler said he's more worried about stacking wins than counting catches.
"I've had a lot of catches in this league, man," he said. "I'm not worried about the catches and the yards and all of that. I have the most fun when the ball is thrown my way. Who doesn't? But it has everything to do with execution and making sure we're doing whatever we can to win these football games, man. That's always going to be the goal….
"And if it doesn't [turn], as long as we're winning football games, we're good to go, baby."
During his weekly Wednesday news conference, Mahomes noted that the attention Kelce receives from opponents opens things up for the rest of the unit. The MVP quarterback cited one play in particular in which Kelce drew the attention of multiple defenders, leaving fellow tight end Noah Gray wide open for an easy 13-yard gain.
"I think he's handling it amazing, honestly," Mahomes said of Kelce's lack of targets. "I feel like I want to get him the ball more, whereas he's just like, 'I just want to win, man. I don't care. I'll run these routes and take guys with me so that other guys can get open.' We understand he's an important part of this offense and we want to make sure we're still featuring him, but at the same time, if defenses are going to take away him, I have to get the ball to the other guys and let them make plays. But as the season goes on, if we continue to show that we're going to throw it to Rashee (Rice) and we're going to throw it to these other guys that are gonna make plays, teams are gonna have to do those one-on-one matchups, and that's when Travis will eat."
With all the attention on Kelce, Rice has generated 75-plus yards in each game, just one of three players to do so (Nico Collins, DeVonta Smith). Rice leads the NFL with 24 receptions and has generated the most yards after the catch this season (200).
The question is whether defenses will continue to blanket Kelce, allowing Rice to eat, or whether some team will attempt to slow the receiver and open up a few more throwing lanes for the future Hall of Fame tight end.
