Travis Kelce lands on NFL’s Top 100 Players of 2018 list
By Matt Conner
The latest member of the Kansas City Chiefs to be named to the NFL’s Top 100 Players of 2018 is Pro Bowl tight end Travis Kelce.
If Travis Kelce isn’t the best tight end in the National Football League, then he’s an obvious second place who is threatening to take over the top spot from Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots. (Of course, if you ask Travis himself, he’ll tell you he is the best.)
It should come as no surprise then that Kelce was recently named to the NFL’s Best Players of 2018 list posted every year during the offseason. As the countdown reveals the next 10 players as they move backwards, Kelce finally joined the list at No. 24 overall.
Kelce was No. 26 last season and after another 1,000 yard season (1,038 to be exact) in which he caught 83 catches, 8 of them for touchdowns, it makes sense that he’d maintain his spot among the league’s elite players.
For a tight end to rank among the first two dozen players from every single position shows just how dominant Kelce has been and how respected he is by his peers as a complete mismatch in the middle against slower linebackers or smaller defensive backs.
Kelce joins two other recent Kansas City Chiefs mentions on the NFL’s top 100 list. Last week both running back Kareem Hunt and wide receiver Tyreek Hill were revealed in the 30s—proof positive that the entire league respects the Chiefs offense. Adding Sammy Watkins, who is earning all kinds of praise this offseason, to the mix of playmakers should make defensive coordinators cringe as they game plan to play Kansas City.
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Kelce has two consecutive seasons going over the 1,000 yard mark and has made three consecutive Pro Bowls. Unless an injury occurs, Kelce is still a player at the top of his game with many more years in his prime to come. Another Pro Bowl (or several) seems like a very safe bet, which means Kelce will likely make this same sort of headline next year.