Travis Kelce to Ja'Marr Chase: 'Better back it up'

Travis Kelce isn't afraid of a little trash talk. In fact, he encourages it and said as much on the most recent episode of his podcast, New Heights, co-hosted by his brother Jason Kelce. The problem with a recent round of trash talk featuring Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase is that Kelce says he needs to back up his words.

If you're coming in from the side here, let's back things up to explain what's going on. Joe Burrow recently spoke to the media during the Bengals offseason, and the Cincy QB was asked to identify the best quarterback in the game. His response was Pat, as in Patrick Mahomes, the reigning NFL MVP. From there, reporters went to Chase and told him Burrow's response, and that's when Chase's response of "Pat who?" was repeated again and again on social media.

Shortly after the exchange, the Chiefs held a ceremony to receive their Super Bowl rings from winning the championship last February. Mahomes used the occasion to show he's listening with the following mic drop.

Then this week, the Kelce brothers recorded a new podcast episode and the "Pat who?" scenario came up. When asked about what he thought of the whole thing, Kelce started by saying, "I thought it was a little bold." He then went on to add, "The guy’s a two-time league MVP, two-time Super Bowl MVP. To say 'Pat who?' is like… I don’t know ...

"Shout out to Pat for holding it down. I mean who doesn’t love a good locker room banter, you know? Putting a little bulletin board material up there. ... Shout out to Ja’Marr Chase for holding it down for his QB, but don’t you ever disrespect Pat Mahomes now. If you want to talk your shit, talk your shit, pill. Just better back it up."

As if a Bengals-Chiefs matchup wasn't already must-see TV, the trash talking going on between the top players invovled is going to make this season's matchup the biggest game on the entire regular season slate.