Travis Kelce

No. 87 · 14th season

Fourteen years in, and Kansas City still needs him to carry it

Most players reach a point where the team starts protecting them from the weight. Kelce hasn't reached that point.

He came into this league when some of his current teammates were in middle school. Fourteen seasons as a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, a position that tends to wear bodies down faster than most. He became the kind of player people build offenses around — the one who makes a defense think twice before it even snaps the ball.

Now he's heading into what could be his last season, and the question isn't whether Kansas City will ease him into the background. It's whether they can afford to. The Chiefs may still need Kelce to be the main receiving presence they've always counted on him to be.

That's a strange place to stand — somewhere between farewell and necessary. Not being eased out. Still being leaned on.

Whatever this season ends up being, it probably won't look like a goodbye tour.

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