Since being drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs with the 63rd overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, Kelce has shown that he is a dominant and essential role for the Chiefs defiant offense. Now I take a look to see if he will be considered the greatest tight end in NFL history and compare his stats to other legendary players at the same position as him.
His 1,125 receiving yards, 9 touchdowns on 92 receptions is 1st among his position but with great pieces around him with Mahomes throwing the ball and having Tyreek Hill, Mecole Hardman, and Clyde Edwards-Helaire, among others, could have higher stats but it is impressive that he is able to do that with all of the pieces the Chiefs have at their offense. Even though the Chiefs lost in the AFC Championship to the Cincinnati Bengals, Kelce showed that even if he doesn’t win it he should be in the conversation for offensive player of the year. And Kelce will be in Kansas City for a good while, with last year signing a 4 year, $57 million dollar deal adding on to the 2 years he had left in his last deal and it’ll keep him there till he is 36. The records that Kelce has already broken are stacking up as the games go by. He is the only tight end to get at least 1,000 in 4 straight seasons. He got to 500 career receptions in fewer games than any tight end in NFL history, and his 6,465 career receiving yards is the most by a tight end through 7 seasons in NFL history all while not playing in his rookie year. And while he is far from done, here are some of his stats from the age of 25-30 compared to the notable hall of fame tight ends at the same age group.
Travis Kelce:
Tony Gonzalez:
Jason Witten:
Antonio Gates:
Shanon Sharpe:
While he has put up numbers similar to some of the Hall of Famers listed above, there are also emerging players looking to put their name among those before them like Rob Gronkowski, George Kittle, Darren Waller, Kyle Pitts among others so if Kelce can stay dominant, he could very well see himself proclaimed as the greatest tight end of all time.
