October 5, 2014; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers during the first quarter at Levi
We have covered the positives but with any player there always some negatives. Kelce also was tied for most fumbles in the league among tight ends with four. That certainly poses as a large concern as no matter what the position and production, if you are turning the ball over a lot you’ll lose time on the field. When you compare the four fumbles in one season to Gonzalez career it doesn’t bode well for Kelce. T.G. only had six fumbles his entire career. You can take it to Vegas that ball security will be a key point of emphasis for Kelce.
In June, an article from the Kansas City Star talked about Kelce having some offseason goals which were put on more weight, learn more of the playbook and work on ball security.
"“First and foremost, it’s a psychological issue and it’s mental concentration — that’s all it is,” Kelce said of his ball security. “We’re all big enough and strong enough to hold onto to the ball, it’s just whether or not you want to focus in on it. “In certain situations, you have to be able to be more conscious of ball security than you do in the open field … just watching last year’s film, watching games … even when I didn’t fumble, watching how I was holding the ball, seeing how I got careless with it at times.”"
Chiefs fans are all praying he makes significant improvement this year. We all know the costly fumble in Arizona was likely the difference between making and missing the postseason.
Gonzalez played 12 years in Kansas City where he finished with 916 receptions for 10,940 yards and 76 touchdowns. That averages out to 76.33 receptions per season, 911.66 yards per season, and 6.3 touchdowns per season for 12 years. While it’s not likely Kelce could attain all those stats he could possibly attain and break at least one of them. I have to favor the touchdown average as his most likely to break.
What do you think, Addicts? Is it unfathomable that another tight end could be as good or better than our beloved Tony Gonzalez?