The concerns are easy to understand if you just look at the stat sheet.
Travis Kelce, the perennial Pro Bowl tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, has been held to a fraction of his typical production through three games in the 2024 season—so much so that it's the driest stretch, statistically speaking, of Kelce's career going back being drafted in 2013.
Heading into Week 4, a scheduled road tilt against the Los Angeles Chargers, Kelce has 8 catches for 69 yards and zero touchdowns. If that sounds more like the first half of a game, you're not mistaken. Kelce's run of incredible production over the last decade has literally rewritten the record books. This year, however, not so much.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid says Travis Kelce is just fine and that he "hasn't lost a step."
For some time now, the more pessimistic fans have been waiting for something like to happen—not out of some hopeful anticipation but more in a "waiting for the other shoe to drop" kind of way. Each season, some section of negative-leaning fans have wondered if this would be the year that Father Time caught up with Kelce. Every year, Kelce has answered that call with another tremendous season furthering his own records.
This year, the anemic production has given more credibility to the idea that Kelce has lost his edge than ever before. Yet for those watching closely, it's easy to see how defenses are still keying in on him as much as ever. It's also true, sorry to say, that Patrick Mahomes has missed some wide open looks for Kelce in all three games. Add in some plays that were negated by penalties and you have a perfect storm for a statistical downturn.
Head coach Andy Reid spoke to the media on Wednesday and answered questions about Kelce with a strong defense of the future Hall of Famer.
"I know people are saying that he's old or that he has distractions, but defenses don't think that. Trav is fine. He just keeps being Trav. He works his tail off. He hasn't lost a step. He's not distracted. They're are making sure he's taken care of."'