The Kansas City Chiefs may enter Week 5 with a perfect 4-0 record, but injuries to key players and a slow start from tight end Travis Kelce have raised concerns for the defending champions.
Travis Kelce has just 15 receptions for 158 yards and no touchdowns over Kansas City’s first four games. Before an 89-yard outburst in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Chargers, Kelce only had 69 receiving yards in three games.
But Kelce, who turns 35 on Saturday, isn’t sweating his slow start to the 2024 season whatsoever. The future Hall of Famer had a perfectly blunt message to his critics during the latest episode of the “New Heights” podcast that he co-hosts with older brother Jason Kelce.
“Struggling in terms of stats,” Kelce said. “I was still playing winning football. That’s all that f***ing matters.”
Needless to say, the Chiefs will need vintage Travis Kelce to return, following the alarming number of injuries to skill-positioned players on offense.
The full list of NFL tight ends with 100 catches and 1,000 receiving yards since the start of last season
Travis Kelce pic.twitter.com/gTRpg1BMux
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Wide receiver Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown is likely out for the entire regular season with a shoulder injury that required surgery. Running back Isiah Pacheco is recovering from a fractured fibula, and star wideout Rashee Rice may be out for the rest of the year after suffering a knee injury in Week 4 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Travis Kelce’s Chiefs will try and improve to 5-0 on the season when they play host to Derek Carr and the New Orleans Saints on “Monday Night Football” next week.
Too Soon To Worry About Travis Kelce
Fans will recall that the three-time Super Bowl champion also got off to a slow start last year before returning to his elite form as the season progressed. Kelce was unstoppable in the Chiefs’ Super Bowl 58 run, notching 32 receptions for 355 yards and three touchdowns.
Keep in mind that Patrick Mahomes was also getting the ball out a lot to the likes of Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy early in the season, too. With Rice out indefinitely, Mahomes will surely lean more on Kelce going forward.
