Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes have both been with the Kansas City Chiefs for their entire careers. With Kelce being the older player, their time together spans the entirety of Mahomes’ career, which began in 2017.
Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce’s Career
Although the Chiefs drafted Mahomes in 2017, the two didn’t start playing together until 2018. Mahomes sat behind Alex Smith for his entire rookie season. The only action he saw was a Week 17 start in a game that didn’t matter.
Since Kansas City rested its starters in the final game of the 2017 regular season, Kelce did not play. As a result, Kelce didn’t catch his first pass from Mahomes until the 2018 season. But what a debut it was for the unstoppable duo.
The 2018 season was Mahomes’ first as a starter. He wasted no time establishing himself as one of the best in the NFL, throwing for 5,097 yards and a league-high 50 touchdowns. Mahomes’ performance earned him MVP and Offensive Player of the Year honors.
Mahomes taking over as starter also propelled Kelce to the best season of his career at the time. The future Hall of Fame tight end caught 103 passes for 1,336 yards and 10 touchdowns.
As for Mahomes, there’s little doubt in this writer’s mind that he’s already the second-greatest quarterback of all time (at least).
Talent-wise, there’s never been anyone better. The only reason he can’t be put ahead of Tom Brady in the GOAT conversation is he’s too young. But if Mahomes continues on his current trajectory, there is going to be a serious conversation to be had a decade from now, perhaps sooner.
From 2018-2022, Kelce’s worst season saw him catch 92 passes for 1,125 yards and nine touchdowns. He was great with Smith, but he was even better with Mahomes. Looking back at his stats, it’s easy to see the difference.
Kelce has now played 93 regular season games with Mahomes. In those games, he’s averaged 6.3 receptions for 78.5 yards and 0.55 touchdowns per game.
In 61 games with Smith, Kelce averaged 4.8 receptions for 61.6 yards and 0.36 touchdowns per game. It’s easy to see how much Kelce improved once Mahomes got under center.
However, let’s not disparage Smith. It’s important to remember how Kelce’s career started.
Kelce missed his entire rookie season due to microfracture knee surgery. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that, while Kelce’s sophomore season was still very good, he didn’t immediately morph into an elite tight end. His first two seasons were underwhelming by Kelce’s current standards.
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Nevertheless, Kelce was able to post 80-catch, 1,000-yard seasons with Smith in both 2016 and 2017. Even if he never got Mahomes, Kelce was always going to be one of the best tight ends in football.
Kelce made his first Pro Bowl in 2015. He’s been selected every year since. Both Mahomes and Kelce have made the Pro Bowl every year since the passer became the starter.
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