Travis Kelce

Travis Kelce (born October 5, 1989, Westlake, Ohio, U.S.) is a record-setting tight end in the National Football League (NFL) who helped the Kansas City Chiefs win three Super Bowls (2020, 2023, 2024). Possessing an incredible athleticism and ability to read zone coverages, he amassed more than 1,000 receiving yards in seven consecutive seasons, an unprecedented feat for a tight end. Telegenic and charismatic, Kelce is also known beyond American football, and his fan base notably grew after he began dating pop superstar Taylor Swift in 2023.

Early years and collegiate career

Kelce was born to Ed and Donna Kelce, and the family—which includes elder brother Jason Kelce, also an NFL player—lived in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Their mother worked as a bank executive, and their dad was a manufacturer’s representative. Both parents had been athletes—Donna Kelce in track and field, and Ed Kelce was a high-school football player. But Ed Kelce admitted to ESPN in 2020, “I would probably give it up and say athletic talent comes more from her side of the family,” given that Donna Kelce’s brother and father both played college football.

Both Travis and Jason Kelce played numerous sports from an early age, and both were highly competitive. The younger Kelce was a quarterback in high school, and several high-profile colleges recruited him. He chose the University of Cincinnati, where he reunited with his brother. He was redshirted in 2008 and saw little playing time the following year. Then in 2010 he failed a drug test after testing positive for marijuana, leading to a one-year suspension. Jason Kelce lobbied the coaching staff to give his brother another chance, and Travis Kelce rejoined the team the next year. After shifting from quarterback to tight end, he had a breakout senior year in 2012, catching 45 passes for 722 yards and scoring 8 touchdowns. He left school the following year, though he did not officially graduate until 2022.

NFL

In the 2013 NFL draft, Kelce was selected by the Chiefs in the third round as the 63rd overall pick. Some scouts had questioned his character because of the drug suspension, and Chiefs head coach Andy Reid asked Jason Kelce, whom he had drafted while Reid was the Eagles head coach, to vouch for his younger brother. Travis Kelce later selected 87 as a uniform number in recognition of the year his brother was born, 1987.

Kelce made his NFL debut in 2013 but played just one game that season because of a knee injury. He returned the next season and scored his first NFL touchdown in the third game. He had four other touchdowns that year, while registering 862 receiving yards.

In 2015 Kelce was named to his first Pro Bowl, and he soon became one of the best players in the NFL. A favorite target of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, he had more than 1,000 receiving yards in each season from 2016 to 2022, a record for tight ends. During the 2019 season Kelce registered 1,229 receiving yards as the team finished first in the American Football Conference West Division for the fourth consecutive year. Backed by his strong play, the Chiefs easily advanced in the playoffs, and in Super Bowl LIV, held in February 2020, the team beat the San Francisco 49ers, 31–20. In the game Kelce caught six passes for 43 yards and one touchdown. “Travis is definitely the best player I’ve thrown to,” Mahomes told Vanity Fair in 2023. “With how big he is and the way he is able to run routes and make plays happen, is a really rare thing.”

In the 2020 season Kelce’s 1,416 receiving yards set a league record for a tight end, and Kansas City returned to the Super Bowl but was defeated by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31–9. The following season he caught a career-high 12 touchdowns, and the Chiefs advanced to Super Bowl LVII in February 2023. Their opponent, the Eagles, featured Jason Kelce at center, and it was the first time the brothers had faced off in the Super Bowl. The Chiefs won a thriller, 38–35, and Travis Kelce had a stellar game, catching six passes for 81 yards and one touchdown. Kelce had another strong season in 2023, and the Chiefs won a second consecutive Super Bowl, defeating the San Francisco 49ers in overtime, 25–22.

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Other activities and personal life

The telegenic Kelce has appeared in and hosted television and radio shows. In 2016 he starred in the reality dating TV program Catching Kelce, and in 2022 he and his brother started the popular podcast New Heights, in which they talked about the NFL and other topics.

A few weeks after winning the Super Bowl in 2023, Kelce hosted Saturday Night Live, and he won accolades for his performance. “I think he killed it,” SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels told Vanity Fair. “He’s a natural. He was a presence from the moment he walked out.” Kelce has said he could see himself working as a game show host or a color commentator for NFL games after his playing career ends.

Kelce was exposed to millions of new fans when he started dating Taylor Swift, who attended several of his games in 2023. The star football player, in turn, saw her perform in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Swift discussed her relationship with journalist Sam Lansky for a December 2023 article in Time magazine. She said:

This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell. We started hanging out right after that. So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to get to know each other. By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple. I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date.