Taylor Swift has been a major talking point in the NFL ever since her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce came to light last season. Reception to her presence in games has been largely positive so far and she has also contributed greatly to some of the highest numbers the league has seen, whether it be at the gate or in the TV ratings.
But not everyone agrees. The Athletic’s Mike Jones conducted a poll among current NFL players, who all agreed to participate on condition of anonymity. One of the responses was highly critical of the multi-platinum pop superstar’s exposure:
“I feel like she is getting unnecessary coverage. There was the whole NFL opening season video on Twitter and she was featured five times and our quarterback was featured none. That’s not even right. She is not the NFL.”
“I’ll jam to some Taylor Swift, but I don’t give a s— if she’s at the game or not.”
Travis Kelce addresses surprisingly poor 2024 performance amidst Taylor Swift relationship
There has purportedly been a debilitating “side effect” of Travis Kelce’s relationship with Taylor Swift, however: he has been playing rather poorly in the 2024 season. With only 158 receiving yards so far in four games, he has looked nothing like the elite player who would terrorize opposing linebackers and defensive backs whenever he had the ball in his hands.
Former ESPN analyst Todd Shay is one of those people who believe that the newfound fame from the relationship is to blame for the slump. Speaking on “The Ryen Russillo Podcast” last week, he said:
“Every show I watch, every pregame show, halftime show, postgame show, weekday show, every broadcast I watch for the last few weeks, it’s like, are we not allowed to say that he’s out of shape.”
And on Wednesday’s episode of “New Heights,” Kelce acknowledged his seemingly diminishing stats. However, he stressed they did not matter as long as the Chiefs were winning (they are currently one of only two unbeaten teams):
“[I was] struggling in terms of stats. I was still playing winning football, and that’s all that f******* matters.”
He will look to continue his resurgence against the New Orleans Saints this coming Monday. Kickoff is at 8:15 PM on ABC.
