Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

“The Great Ones Know How To Find It” – Chiefs GM Brett Veach, While Conceding Travis Kelce’s Lost a Step

Travis Kelce remains one of the top tight ends in the league despite his age

Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Kansas City Chiefs’ star tight end Travis Kelce has been one of the league’s most effective players at his position for several years now. The soon-to-be 36-year-old has been one of the central figures on the Chiefs’ recent dynastic run that includes 3 Super Bowl wins.

And while he is one of the more experienced players on the Chiefs’ roster, it comes with the price of being one of the oldest as well. Age has been catching up with the phenomenal tight end, and that is something even the Chiefs’ general manager, Brett Veach, has noticed.

Veach Acknowledges Drop in Kelce’s Production

Speaking in an interview recently, Veach acknowledged the fact that the All-Pro tight end is not the same as he once was, but he can still be quite effective when crunch time comes along. He remains confident that when a crucial situation comes up, Kelce will be able to roll back the years and make a difference.

“We’ve all seen it over the last few years. There are periods throughout the season where you’re like, ‘This might be it.’ But when the games are the most important and the lights are the brightest, he finds it somewhere.”

Veach also went on to add how all greats of the game are able to find that extra gear when they need it, despite their age. It may not be on a consistent or week-by-week basis, but they are able to always find their best form when the lights are the brightest.

“The great ones know how to find it. They know where it’s buried, and they know how to access it. And they can’t access it at that age week in and week out, but when they need it, they know how to find it.”

Kelce’s Performances Over the Years
As one of the team’s leading pass-catchers over the years, Kelce’s streak of 1000-plus receiving yards started in the 2016 season. Since then, he crossed the milestone for the next six seasons, and could have easily done so in the 2023 season as well had he not missed a couple of games.

However, the 2024 season clearly showed a drop in performance. It was his worst season as he finished with only 823 receiving yards from 16 games. In fact, it was also the first time in his career that he finished in single digits for yards per catch with just 8.5.

Travis Kelce has had seven consecutive seasons with 1,000+ receiving yards:

♦️ 2016: 1,125 yards
♦️ 2017: 1,038 yards
♦️ 2018: 1,336 yards
♦️ 2019: 1,229 yards
♦️ 2020: 1,416 yards
♦️ 2021: 1,125 yards
♦️ 2022: 1,338 yards

No other tight end in history has more than three 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/oL2zz3YXCg
— KC Sports Network (@KCSportsNetwork) May 31, 2023

While those are the statistics, on the field, Kelce was not able to get as open as he normally could, and after completing a reception, he wasn’t able to generate many more yards after the catch.

But even if all of this is true, the Chiefs know they still have a top-class player who can be counted on to make the big plays when required. And the hunger to perform at the biggest stage is still what has kept the 10-time Pro Bowler coming back for more. While that Champion pedigree lives on, Kelce will always be a force to reckon with.

Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Brett Veach

Kansas City Chiefs

NFL

Travis Kelce

Devavrat Kulkarni

nfl

I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!