6 October 2023
Travis Kelce has been the best tight in the NFL for the better part of a decade. He has helped turned the Kansas City Chiefs into a modern-day NFL dynasty, serving as the main target for superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes en route to winning two Super Bowls since 2020. The dynamic duo has become the gold standard across the league.
Still, the 34-year-old Kelce has never been bigger than he is right now. His budding romance with singer Taylor Swift has skyrocketed his stardom over the past month. As well known as Kelce already was in the sports world, some would say Swift truly put him on the map.
The reaction speaks for itself. In the aftermath of Swift attending a home game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City last month, Kelce’s jersey sales spiked nearly 400 percent. She made another appearance at a road game at MetLife Stadium in New York last week and the cameras panned to her suite more than a dozen times. The main storyline this week with the Vikings set to host the defending Super Bowl champions is whether Swift is going to show up at U.S Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
The hysteria has gotten so out of hand that Kelce recently admitted that he thinks the NFL has gone overboard with its coverage of his relationship with Swift.
What does Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson think of the attention his good friend has been getting?
“He always gets a lot of attention,” Hockenson said. “I don’t think anything has changed.”
He paused.
“OK,” Hockenson said. “Maybe a little more off the field.”
Meanwhile, the Vikings are prepared to give Kelce his fair share of attention on the field.
“Every single snap, first, second and third down, Travis Kelce is dangerous,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said. “You have to know where he is, and there’s a great chance wherever he is, the intent of the play is probably to involve him in a pretty significant capacity.”
The biggest thing that separates Kelce from everybody else who plays the position is his ability to freelance. A common joke around the NFL is that the 6-foot-5, 250-pound tight end sometimes doesn’t even run routes. He simply searches for an open space while running downfield.
Asked about defending Kelce over the course of a game, Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores noted that it’s imperative to keep eyes on him until the whistle blows the play dead.
“He’s certainly among the best tight ends to probably ever play,” Flores said. “”If somebody has him leveraged out, he’s going to stop the route and go somewhere else where he can get open.”
It helps that there’s something otherworldly about the way Mahomes goes about his business, extending plays with his legs long enough for Kelce to get open, then zipping the ball in there at the last second.
“You’ll see (Kelce) sit in a zone and then he’ll see Patty move his feet and he’s like, ‘Alright, I’m going to go over here,’ ” Hockenson said. “He does a lot of stuff that’s just really cool to watch.”
There isn’t a perfect way to defend that combination. Frankly, even if the Vikings dial up the perfect call, they might still end up giving up a big play because the rapport Kelce has with Mahomes is on another level.
“It’s really hard,” Vikings safety Josh Metellus said. “We might think we have it shut down and they find a way to make an even bigger play out of nowhere.”
It’s important that the Vikings don’t let those plays compound on defense.
“We’ve just got to move on to the next play,” Flores said. “That’s really the mindset we’ve got to take.”
As somebody who plays the same position, Hockenson has tried to emulate his game after Kelce over the years.
“He’s just such a great player,” Hockenson said. “I could go off on a tangent about all the things that he does. He varies his speeds. He sees the defense. He does some stuff at the top of the route.”
Does he have any tips for how the defense should cover him?
“It’s easier for me to say than it is for them to guard,” Hockenson said with a laugh. “You can kind of try to help out a little bit, but it’s not like I know exactly what Trav is doing on certain plays.”
Which is exactly why the Vikings will be giving Kelce so much attention on the field. As for the attention off the field, that will hinge on whether Swift shows up to cheer him on.
“That would be cool,” Vikings cornerback Byron Murphy said. “Not for him, though, because we’re going to try and get our hands on him in front of her.”
That might be easier said than done.
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