Travis Kelce Embraces Leadership Role with Chiefs

Entering his 12th season in the NFL, Chiefs star Travis Kelce – once viewed as a significant character risk – has taken on a leadership role in the Chiefs locker room.

Chiefs rookie offensive lineman Kingsley Suamataia recently praised the tight end for taking him ‘under his wing.’

Running back Clyde-Edwards Helaire has credited Kelce for helping him with his PTSD, six years removed from when an 18-year-old was shot and killed when allegedly trying to rob the former and his then-college teammate at gunpoint (police never said who fired the fatal shot).

And even Harrison Butker, who came under mass criticism after a controversial commencement speech in which he called Pride month an example of ‘deadly sin’, found himself protected by the burly tight end afterwards.

‘I can’t say I agree with the majority of it or just about any of it outside of just him loving his family and his kids,’ Kelce said on his New Heights podcast, before adding, ‘I don’t think that I should judge him by his views, especially his religious views, of how to go about life. That’s just not who I am.’

Kelce said he ‘cherished’ Harrison Butker as a teammate after his controversial remarks

After being perceived as a cocky, immature prospect upon being drafted 11 years ago, Kelce has evolved into the league’s best tight end and a mature voice on the two-time defending champion Chiefs.

The 34-year-old’s sort of mentorship role is made all the more unlikely by the reputation he entered the league with.

Kelce was suspended for his redshirt sophomore season at the University of Cincinnati after he excessively partied and failed a drug test.

He later told the Bussin’ with the Boys podcast that it took his brother (and college teammate) Jason pleading to their coaches for him to be allowed back on the team.

‘He went into the coaches office and talked to numerous coaches to try and give me another chance,’ he recalled years later.

‘I’m forever in debt to this guy for putting his name, our name – the Kelce name – on the line. 

Ultimately, Kelce made his second chance count, as he notched 722 receiving yards and eight touchdowns in his senior season.

Kelce was suspended for a year at Cincinnati before finishing with a strong senior year

Kelce has credited Chiefs coach Andy Reid with helping him pour his focus into football

But his future coach Reid still wasn’t fully convinced that he should use a third-round pick on him.

Rather than the typically ceremonial Draft Day call, Reid essentially interrogated Kelce and even asked Jason (whom he’d coached in Philadelphia) for his opinion.

In Kelce’s telling of the story on he and Jason’s New Heights podcast, Kelce said Reid asked him point-blank: ‘Are you gonna f*** this up man?’

Kelce was then asked to pass the phone to his brother, who vouched for him before Reid ultimately used the No. 63 overall pick on him.

Even in the NFL, though, Kelce’s unprofessional reputation persisted early on, as he spent his rookie season sidelined after undergoing microfracture surgery on his knee.

‘I was late to meetings, hanging out too much throughout the week, not necessarily focusing and showing to my coaches that I was giving everything I could,’ he said via ESPN.

‘I learned you can show your personality and have fun but you have to be accountable to the guy next to you and be able to handle the highs and the lows of the game,’ he continued. ‘Now, football is the only place in my life where I’m really detailed, really professional. When I’m thinking about football, I’m dialed in. I can lock in, really compartmentalize. That’s because of Coach Reid.’  

Kelce’s friend and quarterback Patrick Mahomes has also described Reid as a positive influence for the tight end.

Kelce can still have a temper at times as he demonstrated by yelling at Reid in the Super Bowl

‘He has a good feel for getting on Travis when he needs that motivation, but at the same time he lets Travis be who he is,’ Mahomes said.

While Kelce still has the occasional outbursts of temper – he threw a punch at teammate Jack Cochrane during last year’s training camp and even pushed Reid in the last Super Bowl – he’s mostly harnessed that passion and energy in a productive way.

Mahomes, speaking this week, complimented Kelce’s effort at practice as an example for other players, and the outgoing pass-catcher has also shown a softer side in guiding his teammates.

Edwards-Helaire is evidently still dealing with the trauma of that attempted robbery on him (and subsequent shooting death) six years later, and he said Kelce has kept tabs on him as a teammate.  

‘It’s really just mentally just not being there. And it’s one of those things where early on, like guys who kind of pay attention, Trav , Kadarius [Toney] at times, they can even – they’ll know like ahead of time [that he’s struggling],’ he said. 

Suamataia has even described Kelce as an ‘older brother’ as the former BYU player navigates the pros.

‘He kind of took me under his wing when I first got here. It’s real nice having him, having that role model.’

There was perhaps no greater display of Kelce’s role as a team leader than his handling of Butker’s remarks.

Chiefs rookie offensive tackle Kingsley Suamataia said Kelce has taken him ‘under his wing’

The kicker started a firestorm when he spoke at Benedictine College and suggested that the female graduates present were most looking forward to being homemakers – remarks that were hugely panned.

Kelce did not agree with those remarks either, but took a measured approach to discussing them on his podcast, knowing that he and Butker would be sharing a locker room again next season and that some level of harmony needed to be kept.

Perhaps they won’t be able to pull off a historic three-peat. Maybe father time will finally come for Kelce, or Butker’s field goal percentage will drop.

What’s clear at this stage, though, is that Kelce has morphed into an important voice in Kansas City.

And that’s something that would’ve seemed shocking at the beginning of his career.