Travis Kelce admits off-field pursuits may have caused play to slip, vows to return to his standard in 2025

Travis Kelce has a case for being the greatest tight end in NFL history, but the past two seasons haven't been up to his usual standard. 

After seven straight years with 1,000 yards receiving, Kelce has fallen short of that number in back-to-back seasons and saw his yards per catch dip below 10 for the first time in his career last season. Put frankly, Kelce has looked old the last two years, as the 35-year-old seemingly lost a step and some of the burst that made him such a nightmare to defend. 

In an interview with GQ, Kelce spoke honestly about that dip in production and agreed with some of the criticism he's received that his off-field pursuits have impacted his play on it. 

"I think it might have slipped a little bit because I did have a little bit more focus in trying to set myself up. And opportunities came up where I was excited to venture into a new world of acting and being an entertainer," Kelce said. "I don't say this as 'I shouldn't have done it.' I'm just saying that my work ethic is such that I have so much pride in how I do things that I never want the product to tail off, and I feel like these past two years haven't been to my standard." He added, "I just have such a motivation to show up this year for my guys."

Kelce has become a massive star off the field with his hugely popular podcast with his brother, New Heights, cameos in movies and TV shows, and, of course, his well-publicized relationship with Taylor Swift. 

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Brad Crawford

A few years back, Kelce shifted his offseason home base to Los Angeles because of his growing star off the field and all of the opportunities that have come with it, and while he doesn't have any regrets about those off-field pursuits, he does seem to regret letting them get in the way of putting in the kind of training that made him a future Hall of Famer. 

To make that return to form and get back to his "standard," as he put it, Kelce spent his summer in South Florida to work with his longtime trainer Tony Villani, who trained him for his NFL Combine and for much of his career before Kelce moved his training to L.A. 

There were rumors Kelce might retire after the Super Bowl, but he quickly announced his intentions to return to Kansas City after their loss to the Eagles. His only goal is to win another Super Bowl, but the process of doing that might come with a side benefit of proving he hasn't fallen off as one of the game's elite tight ends. 

Kelce has still been productive, but the drop-off from elite to merely good is always noticeable -- especially for a player who was at that level for so long. He hopes getting back to work with Villani and recommitting himself to the training regimen he used for years can push him back into that elite tier.