It would have been hard to fault Travis Kelce for making a cameo in Sunday’s meaningless game against the Chargers. For Patrick Mahomes, Kelce opting not to is evidence of the caliber of teammate he is.
Kelce finished the regular season with 984 yards receiving, the first time since 2015 he didn’t eclipse the 1,000-yard mark in a single campaign. The Chiefs rested plenty of starters, including Mahomes, for the Week 18 win over the Chargers, but Andy Reid left the door open for Kelce to play if he wanted to reach the marker.
Instead of making it eight straight years, Kelce decided to sit so that he didn’t risk injury with the postseason looming – despite Mahomes’ prodding.
The quarterback saluted his longtime teammate for his selflessness Tuesday in his weekly appearance on 610 Sports Radio’s The Drive.
“That speaks to the type of teammate that he is,” Mahomes said. “In all honesty I was trying to force him to play, like I was trying to make him go out there because I knew he was going to try not to play and he wanted to be about the team and not about him. I was trying to force him all the way up until game time and then he said 'No, that’s not who I am. I don’t want to play for those reasons, I want to get myself healthy and ready for the playoffs.'
“A lot of guys would have done that and went out there and did it, and there’s no slight towards them. But the type of teammate Travis is, he couldn’t do that because he knew it wasn’t about him, it was about the team.”
Had Kelce played, the Chiefs likely would have attempted to force him the ball right away so that he could get the 16 yards and get out.
In fact, they were prepared for such a scenario.
“We got some plays that we could get him open where he could stay away from contact and kind of get him into spots where he can catch the ball and get down and everything like that,” Mahomes said. But that’s just the type of guy he is, man. He’s not going to go out there and play for those reasons, he wanted those guys to go out there with the mission of winning the football game, which they did.
“I was proud of him, obviously I would have been happier if he got it, but at the same time I know that’s not who he is. I’m glad that he’s a leader on our team like that.”