Travis Kelce still can’t win debate outright for NFL’s best tight end

Will Travis Kelce ever be known across the NFL as the league’s best tight end?

One day, in the not-so-distant future, football fans will look back and begin to organize and categorize the current era of the NFL with permanent labels. Teams will listed in order of their greatness during this span, and players will be ranked at the best (or not) at their respective positions. For Travis Kelce, it’s likely going to continue to be a debate until the very end.

No one would ever deny that Kelce is one of the NFL’s best tight ends. The question is about ultimate supremacy at the position. The Kansas City Chiefs star has enjoyed an incredible career with a trajectory of production that points toward Canton and potential enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day. It will take longevity and continued good health, but the Chiefs are wired to carry him there and Kelce looks like he’s definitely in his prime.

The problem comes in the specific era Kelce is caught within. On the one hand, Kelce’s first few years in the league pitted him in the same conference as another future Hall of Famer in Rob Gronkowski. For years, Gronk was the charismatic star casting a shadow over everyone else with his gregarious personality, stellar numbers, and Super Bowl wins. In fact, if it wasn’t for injury issues on Gronk’s part, the shadow would have loomed larger over Kelce.

Now in the second half of his career, Kelce is contending with George Kittle, another excellent tight end who looks like the best young player at his position in the game. In fact, he’s already so well-rounded that Bucky Brooks of NFL.com recently listed Kittle as the best overall tight end in the game. While no one wants to take anything from Kittle, it’s also another sign that Kelce isn’t going to find himself a clear label as “Best Tight End in Football” any time soon.

Even more, Kelce missed one Pro Bowl after his first full season because of the silly format of the Pro Bowl. In one of the league’s experimental years with player legends as team captains, Michael Irvin and Cris Carter chose four tight ends as Pro Bowlers that year: Jason Witten, Jimmy Graham, Gregg Olsen, Martellus Bennett. These were in addition to Julius Thomas and Gronk, who did not participate.  At this point, Witten coasted in with less production than Kelce on the strength of his veteran status (and having played for Dallas).

If that sounds silly to complain about the lack of a Pro Bowl nod, the reality is that careers are discussed in such terms. When talking about the Hall of Fame merits of a certain player, one of the first subjects reached for is Pro Bowl appearances and/or All-Pro nods. Kelce has made five consecutive Pro Bowls in his seven professional seasons, but his first year was lost entirely due to injury and it would sound that much better to have him as a six-time Pro Bowler—especially if health ever becomes a concern down the road.

We must admit our bias here, since we’re all Chiefs fans, but even with that said, it seems silly that Kelce isn’t known even by casual fans of the game as the best in the business. Kittle is a ton of fun to watch. Zach Ertz can carry an offense. But Kelce is setting records with each passing season. He’s also hoisted a Super Bowl trophy, is a true community leader, and is as engaging as any NFL player with fans and media.

For Chiefs fans, there’s zero doubt that Kelce is the best tight end in the National Football League. And we’re not alone in that belief, since many NFL experts would say the same thing. But the fact that it’s not somehow unanimous proves that people will be debating Kelce’s place far after he’s hung up his cleats. He’ll always be known an elite tight end to everyone, but the mantle of “best in the game” might escape him from at least some slice of the population.