Why did Travis Kelce play such a small role in the Chiefs offense?

Henry McKenna

NFL Reporter

Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce are an inseparable duo. They are the epitome of chemistry on the field. Or – they were.

Things have not been going well between the two stars of the Kansas City Chiefs this season.

In two games, Kelce had just seven passes for four catches and 39 yards. No touchdowns. That's a bizarre stat for one of the best pass catchers in NFL history – who, by the way, had 11 catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns in his first two games last season. (He sat out Week 1 in 2023 with a knee injury.)

This year, the Chiefs are undefeated and opened the season with two exciting games, and given all of their recent Super Bowl wins despite mediocre regular-season success, you always get the feeling they'll be fine as long as Kelce and Mahomes are in charge.

But Kelce is currently playing a minor role, so Mahomes is more or less on his own.

And the reason for this is not entirely clear.

“He's going to make his catches,” coach Andy Reid said of Kelce on Monday. “It's not that he's slowing down or anything like that. That's not the point. Teams just focus on him and know he's Pat's go-to guy. But that's allowed us to use the other guys around him, and they've been productive.”

It's not just because of Kelce's lack of performance as an individual player. That's easy to explain: They're resting the experienced tight end, who turns 35 in October, for the end of the season.

The strange thing is that it is not just his lack of productivity. It is his erratic presence that has caused problems.

The offensive EPA/play when Mahomes targets Kelce is an atrocious -.42, 73rd among tight ends. In 2022, that number was .37, second among tight ends, just behind George Kittle. And in 2023, it was .39, the highest among all tight ends. From 2014 to 2024, it was .42, a remarkable EPA/play.

This highlights how bad Kelce's numbers look for 2024.

Of course, we're only using a very small sample size, but the film confirms that something is wrong with Kelce.

Two of Mahomes' three interceptions came with Kelce as the primary read. On both throws, Mahomes appeared hesitant to throw the ball to Kelce – which proved costly as they should have been anticipatory throws for chunk plays. Instead, they were turnovers.

On Mahomes' only interception against the Ravens in Week 1, he hesitated on a pass to an open Kelce before jumping and throwing the ball to Rashee Rice while being hit. The ball went right to Baltimore linebacker Roquan Smith.

“I probably should have just thrown it to Trav. I tried to get a little greedy and go back to Rashee, but he was free,” Mahomes said after Week 1. “I just tried to throw the football so clumsily that I didn't get what I wanted.”

On Mahomes' first interception against the Bengals in Week 2, Kelce drifted into a weak spot in the zone. Mahomes stared him down and threw the ball too late. And it was an easy catch for the Cincinnati defense. Reid said Kelce was running an option route, which led to a miscommunication between the QB and TE.

“There was a little confusion between the two of them and we were late with the ball, so that's what happened,” Reid said. “We're taking care of it. I can take care of that part.”

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The Chiefs haven't exactly made the greatest effort to get Kelce involved. He's not often the primary culprit on plays – and as we've seen with the hesitations that lead to interceptions, those plays don't exactly propel the offense in the right direction.

As Reid said, it doesn't look like Kelce has lost a step. Instead, it looks like Kansas City is likely using him as a decoy. He can often be found on the opposite side of where the ball is supposed to go. A deep ball? Find him on the drag. Jet sweep to the right? Find him near the left hashmark.

Mahomes has said that Kelce gets double-covered a lot. And that's true sometimes. But from what I've seen on film, he's actually only double-covered a couple of times per game.

“If you look at the first touchdown (against Cincinnati), I actually see Trav and the backside safety running all over the field to cover Travis, and then throwing the ball down the sideline to Rashee,” Mahomes said. “That's kind of what (the defenses) did.”

Mahomes then added, “As the season goes on, he's going to make his catches. He's going to make his yards.”

This is roughly the same message as Reid’s: Just be patient. Kelce will get more involved – but maybe not right away.

Since 2018, Kelce has played more snaps (6,523) than any other skill player in the NFL (including playoffs). He spoke openly during the training camp about how the last six seasons have taken a toll on his body. And during training camp, his workload was extremely light. It seemed like most days were rest days for Kelce.

But Mahomes and Reid are avoiding the elephant in the room, which is that Kelce's presence has disrupted the unit's efficiency. This half-in, half-out approach is leading to hesitation and turnovers for Mahomes.

Maybe the Chiefs don't care. They're 2-0, after all. Maybe they think they can get through this drought and get back on track late in the season. Because they always seem to do that. But right now, it's not happening. And I wonder if their odd use – or lack thereof – of their best playmaker will soon be their undoing.

Before joining FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna covered the Patriots for seven years for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

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