PALM BEACH, Florida – Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid knows he must lighten aging tight end Travis Kelce’s workload next season.
Whether that comes in practice, or games will be determined as Kelce, 35, will navigate his 13th NFL season in 2025.
Reid also believes if Kelce’s offensive teammates are also healthy, it could also play a bigger role in Kelce’s production, which dipped significantly during the Chiefs’ run to losing to the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.
“He’s willing. He’s learning when to come out, so he’ll get himself out of the game when he needs it. And I think that’ll just continue with age,” Reid said of Kelce during the NFL owners’ meetings on Monday.
“I didn’t think that was an issue this year, but I thought we were banged up at the outside positions and that doesn’t help a tight end’s cause at all.
“I just think the healthier we can be around him – he can still be productive.”
Despite leading the Chiefs with 97 catches last season, Kelce’s team-leading 823 yards were the lowest of his career outside of a rookie season that featured only one snap.
Kelce had three touchdown catches last season, and caught five touchdowns with 984 yards receiving in 2023.
From 2016-22, Kelce was an annual 1,000-yard receiver, and caught double-digit touchdowns in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
“I think the biggest thing is that I (expletive) love playing the game of football. I love playing. I still feel like I can play it at a high level and possibly at a higher level than I did last year. I don’t think it was my best outing,” Kelce said during a March 5 episode of the “New Heights” podcast with brother Jason.
“I think I let my guys down in a lot more moments than I helped them, especially if you look at my track record and how I’ve been in years past. I want to give it a good run. I got a bad taste in my mouth in how I ended the year and how well I was playing and how accountable I was to the people around me.”
To Reid’s point, the Chiefs were an injured bunch offensively on their quest to three-peat as Super Bowl champions during the 2024 season.
Receiver Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown missed much of his first season in Kansas City with a shoulder injury until debuting in Week 16. Second-year receiver Rashee Rice suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 4.
Running back Isiah Pacheco was not the same when he returned Nov. 29 after breaking his foot in Week 2. He failed to rush for more than 30 yards in five of eight games to end the season.
The Chiefs tried to mitigate their Super Bowl run by re-signing wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, trading for wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, and bring back running back Kareem Hunt.
But Reid believes if the Chiefs are healthier next season, Kelce could regain his form again.
“We’ll see how it all goes,” Reid said of Kelce. “We’ll try to play off what we think he’s got [and] what all the guys are doing. We’ll just see where he’s at.”
