Club Shay Shay - Travis Kelce

Episode Date: January 4, 2021

On episode 15 of Club Shay Shay, Shannon welcomes 6x Pro Bowler & Super Bowl-winning tight end of the Kansas City Chiefs: Travis Kelce.It’s the GOAT tight end sitting down with the current, best tight end in the NFL. Shannon and Travis cover the history and evolution of their position, sharing stories and insights into what it means to perform at the highest level.The parallels between the two don’t stop at their shared tight end position. Both also have older siblings who played in the league at the same time as them, and they swap stories about how Sterling & Jason, respectively, helped guide them on their paths to success. Travis pays homage to his Ohio roots, and discusses the struggles he faced after his suspension from the University of Cincinnati, as well as the mental shift it took to transition from quarterback to tight end. Travis Kelce is wrapping up a historic regular season in which he broke the single-season record for most receiving yards by a tight end, and he has his sights set on securing a repeat Super Bowl Championship for Kansas City. He and Shannon touch on the greatness of Chiefs players like Tyreek Hill and Patrick Mahomes, dig in to what it’s like to play for Andy Reid, discuss Travis’ relationship with George Kittle, and much more.This is a can’t-miss conversation for football fans, or anyone curious as to where Travis Kelce’s undeniable swag comes from.#DoSomethinB4TwoSomethin & Follow Club Shay Shay:                                                                 https://www.instagram.com/clubshayshayhttps://twitter.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.facebook.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.youtube.com/c/clubshayshay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. New from Embedded. Who gets to compete as a woman? This question came up in ugly form at the Paris Olympics.

But it's not new. If she runs like a man and talks like a man, is she a man? not new. If she runs like a man and talks like a man, is she a man? Hear about the long history of sex testing women athletes on Tested, a new series from CBC and NPR's Embedded podcast. Listen to all episodes on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, welcome to another edition of Club Che Che. I am your host, Shannon Sharp, also the proprietor of Club Che Che. The guy that's coming by today for drinks and conversation is one of the most swagalicious guys in all the NFL. He's definitely the most swagalicious tight end. He's a Super Bowl champ, six-time Pro Bowl, two-time first-team All-Pro,

and he has five consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons. The great Travis Kelton. All my life, been grinding all my life. Sacrifice, hustle, pay the price. Want a slice, got the roll of dice. That's why all my life, I be grinding all my life. All my life, been grinding all my life. Sacrifice, hustle, pay the price. Want a slice, got the roll of dice.

That's why all my life,'ve been grinding all my life. Nephew, what's going on? What's going on, Shannon, man? It's a pleasure. I told you right before, man, it's a pleasure to be on here, man. You're one of the goats that laid out this platform of success for a young tight end like myself to come through on. And I appreciate you deeply for it, man. Man, I really appreciate you coming for it man i mean i really

appreciate you coming on i know it was kind of last minute we kind of threw this thing together i reached out to you and asked you could you do it you say bro no problem hey let me get back to you within a day here we are doing this interview first of all i want to congratulate you congratulate you on a great regular season at the start of your season tell me what are your thought process what are your goals how? What are your goals? How do you go about laying out this is what I want to accomplish in a given season? Well, I think the biggest thing about setting goals is you have to review.

You have to study yourself. You have to figure out how do I get better? At what point in my game can I have more success to help the team out? And the biggest thing for me was I had way too many drops. I had way too many routes that I did not get open on, which I feel that I could have gotten open on. So that's helping out Pat. That's helping out the offense move the ball down the field.

In terms of first downs, I wanted to do more in terms of that. And then touchdowns, I wanted to put more touchdowns up. I thought anything in single digits just isn't enough. I'm not doing enough for my team. So individually, you set goals for yourself statistically. But at the end of the day, I mean, winning every single game was the biggest thing on my mind. I felt like our team was good enough offensively, defensively,

and special teams-wise to go out there and win every single game. And so far, we're very close to that, but we're working for the number one goal, which is to get another Super Bowl, man. When I hear you talking, you say about drops, and I've always looked at guys, guys that catch a lot of passes, got a great run after the catch. They're going to have drops because they're always looking to make that big play. And you consider yourself not only just a typical tight end, you are a big play.

I'm going to need a hundred yards. I need touchdowns to get down the field. And sometimes you have to take your eye off the ball. You're like, okay, I got this and turn and try to locate that defender as soon as possible. Oh, I mean, you know, it's, it's all focused. And then what comes with that is understanding and being aware of the things around you.

So knowing what coverage it is, knowing where your hit is coming from. Knowing what increases when you get the ball to be able to split defenders and get north. Little stuff like that is being more aware so you can focus on the football, you know, and put in the work with the quarterbacks to make sure that you guys are on the same pages in terms of what they like to see or where they like to see you fill the voids, depending on what the defense is presenting. So it's just making sure you're on it's a team game right right stop trying to either help pull defenders to help guys get open or at the same time be able to get the ball north as fast as possible but I think having drops in themselves are

inexcusable all it is is just lack of focus. And over the course of my career, I've really tried to hone in on staying focused throughout the course of the game and not letting the game become too much. Trav, there have been several tight ends that have 100 catch seasons, have 100 catch in a season. You're the only tight end that's ever done it twice.

And to do it coming off a Super Bowl when a lot of times people have it coming off a Super Bowl, when a lot of times people have what they call a Super Bowl hangover, how are you able to stay focused and like, okay, yes, I want a Super Bowl. Yes, my team want a Super Bowl, but I can come back and I can be better, even better than last year and help this team repeat. Well, I like to think of it as what are you trying to be? Are you always chasing greatness? You know, and when does greatness stop? It never stops. So as long as I'm putting on these pads, I'm finding a way to get better and better every single year. and you watch the film and you, you know, might have wished you had the opportunities

that I was getting. I mean, it is what it is. I'm getting the ball thrown to me like I am a wide receiver. And I understand tight ends don't get that across the league. And it took a lot of guys before my time, yourself, Tony Gonzalez, the list goes on. I mean, the list goes on, but it took guys like that

to gain the trust for coaches to be able to implement a guy like me in their game plan and be able to get me the ball as much as possible like that. I'm very fortunate to be able to have Coach Reed. And then on top of that, 1-5 is back there slicing up the defense any way he can and taking advantage of matchups. So nonstop, just trying to make sure that I'm there for my teammates and always chasing greatness. Trav, when I look at your stats, like I said, you have five consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons, over 1,400 yards receiving season on a given year, two years in which you caught for 100 receptions. When I first got into the league, that was reserved for the elite elite wide receivers. The Jerry Rice's, my brother, Chris Carter's there are very few receivers that could put up

those numbers that you're putting up as a tight end. Do you understand what you're doing and how special it actually is? I'm not going to lie. I honestly, I'm just appreciative of the opportunity. And I just go to work every single day thankful for the opportunity that I had to play this position in this offense and get this much trust from the coaches, from the offensive personnel to be able to, you know,

have that success for the team. I see I'm not blind. I see what's going on across the NFL and what history has told us. And the tight end position has been very, it's been put in a bubble for a long, long time. And I feel like it is such a mismatch all over the field if used correctly.

And if the tight end has enough pride to take his ownership in his craft. That is knowing the entire offense, having the responsibility of doing that, making sure you're on time and prompt for your other teammates. I'm definitely thankful that I get this opportunity every single day to put up these numbers, man. When I look at the evolution of the tight end position, the guys are getting bigger.

Dude, I played basically my whole career at about 225, 228. You got. Oh, wait. You are out there with the guys at 220. I was too, that most of my career, I played between 225 and 228. When they first moved me to tight end, I weighed 212. They were ragdolling me, bro.

I had to get in the weight room and start pumping some iron. But when I look at the evolution of the tight end, the guys have gotten more angular, 6'5", 6'6", 245 to 265. And you guys are not really the receivers. You guys are like basketball players. You guys are like a power forward or a small forward. Talk about your ability at being 6'5", 255. I'll say this.

I was always tall and lanky. And then when I got to college, I really put on the weight. And it was definitely party weight. It wasn't a whole lot of keg weight. It wasn't a weight room weight? It wasn't that weight room weight. It was one of those, you got the body taken, a picture of the body in the weight room, and you can tell I ain't been in the weight room too much. the body taking a picture of the body in the weight room and you can tell I ain't been in the weight room too much so so moving the tight end obviously you find out real soon that you got to get in the weight room you have to be able to protect the shoulders you have to be able to uh get the leg strength to be able to dry block somebody not just once but when it's plate 15 down on the goal line you have to be able to train yourself to be able to do stuff mentally

and go beyond. And that's where I really found a love for this game because growing up, and you can see it in the way I play, basketball is my favorite sport. Right. You can throw in hockey and stuff like that when I was a kid. But when I really started taking sports seriously in high school, basketball took over everything. And I was one of those, like you just said, that small forward, power forward. If I had a bigger guy, I'd take him out of the wing.

If I had a smaller guy, I'd take him down into the post. And that's exactly what I did onto the football field. If I had a smaller guy, I've been fortunate enough to – Coach Reed has kind of given me and placed me in these opportunities. If I got a smaller guy, I'd kind of play more of a big body kind of role. And if I got a bigger guy, use my speed and my agility and my wiggle to be able to maneuver around him. And when you see my routes, it's almost like I got a basketball in my head. Now, my handles were suspect. That's why that's why I'm on the football field.

But I always had the ability to make plays, see the floor. And I think that that helped out tremendously. Being in the quarterback room my first couple of years of college helped out tremendously understanding what the quarterback was thinking so I could be on the same page as him. Timing, when the ball needs to be out

in terms of leverages, what guys are doing defensively in terms of how they're playing their leverage. And really just seeing the field instead of just being in this lane of running a paper route, you know. And from there, I've just been able to have success with it and just keep going up and up. I always tell guys coming into the league or young guys playing tight end,

be an artist. Yeah, on paper, you're going to have a certain route. You're going to have a slant. You're going to have a corner route. Be an artist, though. The quarterback. Creativity. Creativity.

You have to be able to be an artist out there and paint that picture for the quarterback. As long as you're on time and where you need to be, how you go about that is all up to you. And that's where you really uh your athleticism takes shape and that's your identity and um and man i can't i can't tell you how much that's helped me out in terms of being uh being a tight end because there's times well i'll leave a game and a guy will come up to me and say listen man the whole game i didn't know which way you were going right that's what i'm trying to do i'm trying to manipulate your mind that i'm doing something else all the time so it keeps the defense at a reactionary position you played you say for the better part of your career growing up you were a

college quarterback and but for you to transition to tight end now i did play one year i played tight end uh one year of high school played tight end one year of college. So it was really a natural transition for me to go from a big wide receiver down to the tight end position. But for your mindset to be a quarterback, quarterback in a number of glamour positions, you got your little jersey tucked in, you got your little towel, you know, you pretty, you know, you looking all good, everybody.

The change of mindset to know I got to get grimy. I got Tim's on now. Ain't no more nice sneaks on out here. I got to get grimy because I might have to block 30 times a game, but also I got to have the ballet to be able to catch 10, 15 balls if I need to. Tell me about the transition that you had to go through. Well, it's definitely a different mindset. And the biggest reason why I think I made the transition so uh comfortably is because i i owned it i didn't i didn't go to that

position i see a lot of guys transition to that position and think to themselves i'm still really a wide hell been on playing on position exactly exactly so they see oh i'm moving a tight end because they think i can't run routes no your body type is just that much more suited for this position. Correct. Your athleticism is that much more suited for this position. And guys don't just attack. Me personally, I knew I wasn't a quarterback. I wasn't the guy that was going to, you know,

put on the suit and tie and keep a clean cut. I was the rebel, right? So it is what it is. I've learned a lot through being that guy, and I've become a lot more mature throughout my career and throughout my life because I've understood that I was that guy. But transitioning into the tight end room, I grew up playing hockey. I grew up playing lacrosse, all these physical sports.

I was a little brother, so I was getting beat up on by guys that were two years older than me and everything that I did. I had that ability to be able to get knocked down and feel comfortable with how i can get back up and still and still do my job and um when you transition you're gonna have you're gonna have failure you're gonna have that failure to just you don't know what you don't know right you know that you know going into a block in terms of hat placement, I had no idea what hitting hands and driving your feet, you know, getting on the track. I didn't understand any of this. Right. Transitioning into this, when I'm being taught this, it's all starting to make sense.

Right. As I got in the weight room, I was able to stay on my blocks, be able to have success within the fundamentals that I was being taught. And it just skyrocketed from there. But the transition into tight end, transition into anything in life, you have to be aware that you're going to hit adversity. Right. You're just going to set in because it's the battle of the unknown. You just don't know that you don't know these things. And you have to go through something to be able to figure them out.

And honestly, I fell in love with that. I fell in love with the grind. I fell in love with the ability to persevere through, you know, screwing up something at one point in time and then coming back the next play and having success knowing that, you know, this is what happened last time. This is what I have to do this time. It sounds like to me your attitude played a huge part in you being able to transition as smooth and as effortlessly as you did because i remember when dan reeve they asked me to transition from a big wide receiver to tight

end the only thing i asked him am i gonna get an opportunity to play because at that time i was barely playing like five or six naps on offense i was mainly a special teams player but the hardest part was not being able to see success instantly guys were just throwing me around you know trying to get off blocks i'm like man all this space you try to move they shove you down into the offensive tackle you run into the defensive lineman so it's like man am i ever gonna be good at this and then all of a sudden you just keep working you get better and better you get better and better and then all of a sudden you just keep working you get better and better you get better and better and then all of a sudden you're like oh i could be a wide receiver out there catching 10 passes 20 passes a year or i could be a tight end down here catching 70 80 balls a year yeah i think i like this one a little better what you did was you found success in the routine that you were

having so whether the routine was practice every single day or getting in the weight room, being able to, you know, lift weights and get stronger so you can take on these D linemen or these linebackers. And, and, and that's the biggest thing is, is finding and trusting that routine of success. I was coming in, I was going to practice. Once I moved to tight end, I was going to practice 10 minutes early just to get my head and hands on somebody, just, just to get that, that feeling on somebody, just to get that feeling of drive blocking, rolling the hips, and lifting somebody. Those little things over the course of time become so routine that it's natural on the field. And when you have your fundamentals so natural that you don't have to think about them, that's when you can really, really take advantage

mentally of what's going on out there on the field. And as you know, this game is 90% mental. It really, it really is an understanding down in distance area of the field. And that's what I tell guys. I'm like, God, how'd you get beat inside? You know, it's 31, you know, it's fourth and one, you know, he's going to try and cross your face. Don't let him into you. Don't let him cross your face. I'm listening to you. You know we're out here to manipulate, man. I'm out here playing tricks. Every tight end, if you go back through eras, all the tight ends

had another guy that was very comparable to them. We go back to the 60s. You got Mackie and Ditka. You come to the 70s and 80s. You got Kellen Winslow and Ozzie Newsome. Myself, Ben Coates, Gonzo. Then it was Gonzo, Witten, and Antonioka. You come to the 70s and 80s, you got Kellen Winslow and Ozzie Newsome, myself, Ben Coates, Gonzo, and then it was Gonzo, Witten, and Antonio Gates. Then it was Gronk, and you, and Kittle. You and Kittle have a very interesting relationship. You broke the record, and then he comes along later in the day, he re-breaks it. Now you take it back. You guys

have been going back and forth, back and forth. Talk to me about your relationship with Kittle. Man, he's unbelievable, man. Unbelievable guy on the field, off the field. Can't say enough good things about him. And then especially what he can do with the football in his hands. I think that, I mean, obviously, his blocking is second to nobody

that I've ever seen play the position. But on top of that, when he gets the ball, man, he turns into, like, the he gets the ball, man, he turns into like the Tasmanian devil, man. It's like he's a maniac, an uncontrolled maniac. And it's awesome to see him grow throughout the league, knowing that he was a fifth-round pick, a guy that really had to work for his weight

and gain the trust of his coaches and his team. And, yeah, I just think that as a tight end kind of union that we have, man, showing love to fellow tight ends and being excited for their success, man, it only helps out guys in the other positions around the league. And right now what A5 is doing at San Fran is setting up these up-and-coming guys that don't even know that he's laying out the groundwork for them. And we just keep raising the bar. You know how it goes.

You just keep raising the bar. You see what a guy across from you is doing, and it's a competitive world. You know, I'm somebody you won't see me getting anything conflicting outside of football. But once it comes to being competitive, man, I'm going to compete my tail off and I'm going to be in your grill the whole game. You talk about your relationships. You got Patrick Mahomes, who has a 99 rating in Madden.

You have a 99 rating in Madden. You're the only team to have two guys on one team with 99 rating. And Tyreek has a 98 rating. Talk about your relationship. He should have been 99 before the year started, man. He's the most unstoppable player in the National Football League. If you don't have two guys on him on every pass concept, it's liable to be a touchdown.

And I'm talking about one of those daggers that, you know what I mean, those 60-yard and 70-yard bombs that just take the wind out of you. And what he can do – I mean, the most dynamic football player I've ever seen, talking about track speed, there's been plenty of guys that have ran four twos in the National Football League. But this guy, what he can do with the ball in his hands outside of just his speed, be able to hit somebody with a hesitation and hit the sideline, being able to route up a cornerback who has to –

they have to, have to take off the top of the deep end. They have to play deep. For him to be able to understand how teams are playing him and mentally still get open and still have the success he's doing, man, I don't think that guy gets enough credit, man. He should have been 99 before us all. When I watch him, I look at a guy that came in mainly as a return specialist, and he relied solely on speed.

He didn't understand how to set guys up. He didn't understand how to run routes and one thing led to another. Now I watch a guy that can run the route tree, that can sit you up, that can put you in a situation. Oh, you think I'm trying to run deep? Okay, I'm stopping right here. Throw it to me. Now I face you up.

I've never seen a guy accelerate like him. And I've been around some guys that run 4.3, run a sub 4.3, but I've never seen a guy accelerate. I'm talking about from a dead standstill position to he's 100 miles an hour. I've never seen a guy accelerate. I'm talking about from a dead standstill position to he's 100 miles an hour. I've never seen anything like it. Man, I'm telling you, it makes you – and it never gets old. I'll tell you what, it blows my mind every single time I see it happen. The last time it happened was in Miami.

He gave a – he got a little jet sweep because, you know, get him on the perimeter, right? Yes. So he got a little jet sweep because, you know, get him on the perimeter, right? Yes. So he got a jet sweep, split two defenders, and then had a – one guy had an angle on him, and I'll tell you he smoked that angle within a half a second, and the guy had no chance and then just went up the sideline for a touchdown. It amazes you every single time.

And his development into being, you know, the best wide receiver in the national football league every single game the accountability he puts on himself he's really creating his own new route tree because of how fast he is most of his routes are 20 yards downfield when i tell you if i if if i get 20 yards downfield that ball better be out now because it takes too long to get that get to 20 yards pat doesn't have that much time. Tyreek, Tyreek, he just takes four or five moves 20 yards downfield. I mean, you just can't cover that.

And the stress he puts on the defense is second to none. Talk about your quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. You were there when he arrived. They trade up to get him with the 10th pick in the draft. They moved heaven and earth what were you thinking on draft night when andy moves up 17 spots to take patrick mahomes what was going through your mind when you see him there you're like okay when did and when did you know like this kid's special i would say i was uh i i was just reading Tyreek Hill said let the cat out the bag and said oh we all

thought he was trash when I tell you that he that never went across my mind that he was trash Tyreek was just messing with him but you could tell the moment he walked in the room how personable he was how his energy you know how excited he was to just be in the building. You could tell right then and there that that guy was special. I didn't know necessarily how great of an arm he had. You know, everyone talks about how far he could throw it at Texas Tech and this and that. But seeing him develop from just a gunslinger, I mean, his first year, his first true year in the league, which was his second year. a gunslinger. I mean his first year, his first true year in the league, which was the second year, his first true year in the league, seeing him develop from just a natural gunslinger

to being able to create a routine of success. Watching film, he watches film before he was even in the league, he's watching film of certain teams and certain defenses, and he's got these notebooks that just get packed with what looks like chicken scratch, but it's like deciphering a code to him. You know what I mean? It's all his lettering, all his wording, but it all makes sense to him. Right. He goes this week in, week out, and just keeps getting better and better and better and better.

To be able to sit behind Alex, I think that helped him out a lot. But I also think that he was going to have success no matter where he went, man. The guy's determination, his ability to just feel comfortable out there and be able to sling the rock however he feels is necessary. Man, it's been a pleasure to work with him and see him grow into the best player in the National Football League. Well, I knew it was special when you guys rested Alex in week 17

and you went to Denver and it was cold. And he threw for like three – he threw for like three touchdowns. I said, this dude can play. Oh, yeah. I was like, no, no, this dude can play. And it was – you didn't know you get those Texas Tech gunslingers, man. They only know how to throw it in 100-degree heat. Right.

It was ice cold. It was very cold, yes. Late December, early January. I mean, I'm talking about 10 degrees was as hot as it got. And it was ice on the field. So for him to go out there and still be able to sling it the way he did, man, with the confidence that he had. It was definitely special.

But there were throws throughout the year that I saw on scout team and the stuff that he was doing where I was like, listen, man, this guy's got it. I don't know how this offense is going to change when he takes the lead or when he takes over the huddle, but he's got it, man. Andy does a great job, and I've known Andy. Andy was my brother's offensive coordinator when he was in the huddle, but he's got it, man. Andy doesn't, and I've known Andy, Andy was my brother's offensive coordinator when he was in Green Bay. Yeah.

And so he's very imaginative and he's going to get his playmakers to put ball. He, you mentioned something about how he tries to go about and tries to find a mismatch. And when he finds it, he's going to take advantage of it. You go back to Tampa, well, they were going to single Tyreek and he's like, okay, I'm going to make you double Tyreek. And then you look at the next two weeks,

you have back to back, I think if I'm not mistaken, eight catches, 130, 236 yards. So going to the mind of Andy, what is it like playing for Andy? First off, it's an absolute blast, man. You want to talk about a personable guy, the ultimate leader. He's very personable. Exactly. You know how many different personalities you have in an NFL locker room, man?

Yes. There's so many different people from different walks of life. You have to be able to relate to all of these types of people. As a grown man in the NFL, you have to be able to, as a head coach in the NFL, you have to be able to relate to all these grown men. What Coach Reed does is he does an unbelievable job of fueling guys with trust that this process works.

With on top of that, being able to have the discipline to be able to talk to a guy as a man and tell him you need to work a little harder, you need to do this, you need to do that, get that respect out of somebody. And Coach Reed does it like nobody else, man. He tells everybody, let your personality show, but know we're going to go to work. And ever since I got into the league, man,

I've just been like a fly on the wall. Every single thing that he's taught in the offensive room I've listened to, whether it's to the running backs, to the quarterback, to the offensive line, to the wide receivers, or to other tight ends. I've listened to every single thing that he has to say, and his overall knowledge of the game is second to none, man. And I've learned just so much just by listening to him talk to everybody that I've literally given him no reason to put me anywhere on the field. And with that, I mean, if you get everybody with that kind of mentality,

it just makes it that much harder on the defense. Zero indicators for the defense to be able to say that I'm running a certain route or that somebody else is running a certain route. It just opens everything up. I'm watching him call plays, and he'll try anything, anywhere. You try to throw a pass. He's letting Sammy Watkins throw a pass.

Your completion percentage is not very good. Sammy Watkins got in. Our skill set, our skill position on the offense, I think we got like three or four picks as an offense, as a skill. So I don't know if he'll be seeing us pass the ball anytime soon. I'm just waiting on Tyreek to make it complete to let Tyreek throw one.

And then it'll be done with the wide receivers and tight end throwing passes. You already know. We only got one more opportunity until everything's botched. But that's Coach Reed. That's his personality, man. He likes to have fun and let guys,

he likes the offense to be a whole lot of fun for everybody and he's gonna he's gonna give guys uh opportunities that they typically wouldn't have otherwise what's patrick mahomes like in situations because you look at the last several weeks you guys have needed to go down and get scores in order to win the game. What's his demeanor like normally, and what's his demeanor like in situations where you need a field goal or you need a touchdown in order to win this game? You can see it on his face, man.

He just locks in to another degree, and it's not that he wasn't locked in before. He just, the confidence that he wasn't locked in before he just the the confidence that he has and uh i really think it all pays tribute to how much he how much film he watches and how much he dissects the defense before going into a game because in the crucial moments the moments where we need it the most moments where you need to focus the most and understand what's going on with the defense the most patrick mahomes is always ready and on top that, the ball is always where it needs to be, and we always move the chains.

And you can't say enough about that because situational football, I mean, that's the nitty-gritty. That's when the fourth quarter, four minutes left in the game, down a score, maybe down two scores, what are we doing? What kind of mode are we in? We need a leader to be confident in what we're doing and how we're going about our business. And 1-5, I mean, second to none. He's always right on time, always on point in terms of throwing the ball, in terms of what we're doing, in terms of blitz pickup. He just has everything figured out, man. And I think

it all pays tribute to how much he works and how much mental acuity he really has. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee.

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Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When I look at you guys and you mentioned formatted offense, our formatted offense when I was in Denver in the West Coast system, it was two tight ends, two backs, and a wide receiver. You guys basically stay in your same formation. Three wides, basically 11 personnel.

And I'm like, wait a minute. And you look at tampa on third down he's like i'm not running this football i'm throwing it you look at a couple of last week i'm not running this football i'm throwing it the confidence that andy has in him because even i've seen a lot of great quarterbacks when the situation like that is 31 they're handing the football off they're running the football. But Andy has the utmost confidence in that young man.

To make plays. To absolutely make a play no matter what. If the first read isn't there, now it's get freaky time. We're out the pocket. We're doing whatever we got to do this first time. That's what Pat calls it. He calls it time to get freaky. Because when Pat gets out the pocket, that's when our biggest plays happen. His ability to see the entire field, understand where to throw the ball. And I mean, you can, under pressure, be able to know what to do.

And you have that moxie. Aaron Rodgers is another guy that's out there walking around, got the swagger, got the confidence, and that just oozes out of both of them. And you know, as a player, you just know that guy's going to be ready. So having trust that that guy's going to be ready, I can go out here and just be myself. I don't have to do anything above or beyond my capability

because that guy is special right there, and he's going to make the play happen. You mentioned about how the play getting off script. That's what we call it, get off script. You call the play, it's not there. Now can you get off script and go make a play on your own? What makes him unique? There have been a lot of guys that can get outside of the pocket and maybe if they're rolling right they can make a play going to their

right or maybe they can make a play with their legs but there have been very few guys that when getting off script can still throw the ball 50 yards over your head rolling left or rolling right oh yeah i think i think a lot of it honestly uh goes back to his days uh playing middle infield or playing playing baseball to be able to to open the hips have the arm strength uh no matter where your hips or your shoulders are are whatever direction they're in because the the biggest plays you see him make are when he's rolling out right and he throws it all the way across the field or he's rolling out left and throws it all the way across the field. Or he's rolling out left and throws it all the way across the field. The big no-nos, the don't throw it over the middle late, you know, all the no-nos as a quarterback.

He's throwing all those in the trash. He's like, we can make that throw. That throw is makeable for us. And as a player, you just get excited off of that, man. I mean, I think a lot of it is is to have the faith and the trust in your ability as a quarterback and I mean Pat he works those throws all day every day in practice you'll see him make those throws three or four times a week and and as a player you just know that he's going to be able to to make that play in the game where he's going

to be able to make that throw in the game you just just got to be ready for it. Can't let it surprise you. You grew up in Ohio with an older brother, Jason. When you guys were growing up, did it ever, did you guys ever talk about playing in the NFL? What were your dreams? What were your aspirations as growing up as two young boys in Ohio? Man, when I tell you, I had a very, very fortunate upbringing to be able to have my brother, two years older than me, kind of walk the steps before I was able to, you know, jump into it and see how he conducted himself and see how much success he had and try to one-up him. It created a competitive aspect in the household. And it was never just, oh, we're going to go to the NFL

or, oh, we're going to go to the MLB. Excuse me. It was always just whatever sport we wanted to play that day. So I was a very big – I remember when I was real young, playing hockey and basketball, both winter sports. I would go from hockey practice straight to basketball practice or go from a hockey game straight to a basketball game. And it just, I told you I played lacrosse, football, basketball, baseball, soccer. I mean, you name it,

both of us played it all. And I think what that did was it gave us great understanding of leverage. It gave us great understandings of angles. And it just got us competing in so many different ways. So mentally, every game became a chess game. But to have that guy kind of go through this football life before me and for him to have success within it gave me all the confidence I needed to know that I belong. And I owe a lot of my success to that guy. You know what?

It's funny that you say that because my brother came before me. He's three years older than I am. And I remember when he went to college, I'm like, well, hell, he went to college, I could go to college. And when he got to the NFL, I'm like, well, hell, I could beat him in the backyard. I should be able to go to the NFL too. That was my

thinking it never dawned on me like uh the NFL is really tough to get to and a lot of guys don't make it I'm like well hell he there he lived in the same house with me what makes him so he ate the same food that I ate we went to sleep pretty much at the same time so I'm thinking oh yeah I'm definitely going to the NFL is that was that your thing thought process also without a doubt the the one thing it was for me was why wasn't i having the type of success that he's having right and that didn't come around to college because i had i had probably a little bit more success i actually had college offers to play basketball to play uh football my brother was a walk-on at the University of Cincinnati.

When he went to the University of Cincinnati, I asked him, I'm like, why would you go there out of all the places? And for him, it was the coaching staff and everything aligned for him. And I just followed my footsteps, gave my parents one way to go. And I didn't have success in college. I just thought everything was fun for me. I was the fun guy. I was the let's go out here and enjoy our time out here at practice,

have a few laughs, make a few jokes. Where my brother, he was like the switch turned on. Everything just turned into business for him. And it was a strategical business approach even in the college level. And I didn't really pick up on that until I moved to the tight end position and I really got in his brain on how he was thinking right what that did was it was almost like well now we're playing chess and that was a game that we played growing up almost every single day at the dinner table you know just randomly just throw the chessboard

out there and let's go let's let's compete right and it was just i mean to understand that to see it in person to know that he's having success and that's my that's blood that's i know our athleticism you know mirrors each other yes i know i can have success i just have to channel my mind differently to to be able to have the success that he's having or the success that i want did how how how old were you when you outgrew him i was probably a sophomore in high school i might have been a freshman i might have just yeah i jumped on him uh my eighth grade to to to freshman year i was about five ten five 11 in eighth grade and then my ninth grade year freshman year high school I was 6'4 just a tall lanky didn't know what to do with it all I could do is long

snap and try and get down the field tackle somebody that's funny that you say that because I really don't think I grew my brother until I was probably like a junior senior because my freshman year I was 5'5 132 and then by the time I became a senior I was like like a junior or senior. Because my freshman year, I was 5'5", 132. And then by the time I became a senior, I was like, you know, 180 pounds. But you, this number, tell the story how you chose the number 87. 87. So I have a lot of pride of where I came from and the people that have helped me out along the way. Because I know my silly self needed some help.

I needed some guidance. I needed somebody to slap me upside the head and tell me which way to go in life just because I always chose the fun route over the what was needed and um my brother has always been that for me you know he's always been the the one that you know like I said earlier kind of walked walked this this life before I was able to even get into it. I took so much pride in seeing him have success that I wanted to have that same success or I wanted to have success for this family. And it all started back in 1987 in Cleveland, Ohio,

when my brother was born. I had like three or four different numbers that the chiefs would told me I could grab. And 87 was one of them. It was the only one that really made sense for me was to, you know, show some love to the guy. And I don't think I would be here without him, knowing that, you know,

this has definitely been a fun journey, man. So I was just showing a little love to my brother. That's unbelievable, because that was the same thing that happened to me to have somebody that's already walked the path that's already there where you're trying to get to to tell you what you need to do how to go about it and once you get there things you need to do is invaluable but when i i want to go through some some some all-time brothers okay we got the Watts the Barbers Ron and Tiki we got Bruce Matthews we also got the son Clay the third we got Peyton and Eli we got the Kelsey's and we yours truly last but not least pulling up the rear the Sharks

Sterling and Shannon where where when it's all said done, where are we going to put the Kelsies on the all-time NFL brothers list? I'm going to have to start throwing – I'm going to have to just put out an Excel sheet of what everybody's accomplished. I'm going to have to see what it is, man. After that, we're going to have to turn on the tape. You know what I mean? The tape don't lie.

The eye in the sky ain't going to lie. It's going to tell you the truth. Kelsie's going to be hard to catch the mannix, man I mean? The tape don't lie. The eye in the sky ain't gonna lie. It's gonna tell you the truth. It's gonna be hard to catch the manic, man. God dang, that guy done came with five MVPs in six weeks. And they did it at all three levels. High school, college, and...

Yeah, man. I would put us up there, though, man. I think our journey, our road, and the success we've had at the time that we've been in the league, man, you can't not say that both of us were dominant players when we played, man. And, you know, that's something that pridefully

you can hang your hat on, as you know, man. Yeah, it's an unbelievable feeling. I remember the first time my brother and I made the Pro Bowls together. We made first team all pro together. Man, that's an unbelievable feeling. I remember the first time my brother and I made the Pro Bowls together. We made first team All-Pro together. Man, that's an unbelievable feeling. There's nothing like that feeling. People are like, what? But you don't get it. There have been a lot of brothers. When you make the All-Pro team, that's just not one conference. That's for the entire league. And to have you like, man,

to go to the Pro Bowl, although you're not going to have it this year to go to the pro bowl and take that picture standing on the field with your brother and knowing where you came from and here you are here man that's a great feeling that's a great feeling trial you got and and obviously everyone always likes to say the statistics uh of youth football and the whole the one a million, you got to be one of a million in high school and then one of a hundred thousand in college and this and that. But for two guys to be able to come from the same place, the same household,

and be able to have this much success in this game, man, it's definitely special. And like I said, man, I hang my hat on that one right there. So football, you said, I remember you telling the story earlier, you played a lot of sports. You played lacrosse, you played hockey, you played i remember you telling the story earlier you played a lot of sports you played lacrosse you played hockey hockey you played basketball you played football

once you say you probably got to the 10th of 11th grade you was like football is my passion football is the rhythm so did you stop those other sports or did you just dedicate more to football to be honest to be honest it was uh my sophomore junior year of college where I really take football serious because I went to the University of Cincinnati to play both sports. The reason why I even committed to the university was I went down

to Cincinnati for a five-star basketball camp and my brother was in the middle of spring ball. So I'm at the basketball camp and I'm talking to everybody. They're thinking that we were thinking about offering you a basketball scholarship. And I stayed the weekend with my brother just to hang out with my brother. I hadn't seen him in a while.

And I ran into Brian Kelly, the coach of Notre Dame, who at the time was the head ball coach over at Cincinnati. He looked at me, sized me up real quick and was like, well, do you play football? And I was like, yeah, man, I'm a quarterback. You know, I'm over here thinking, he's over here interested in me. I'm lucky, I'm lucky in my eyes. So he comes over, I hand him a film, I hand him a CD, a DVD of my highlights.

And by the end of the weekend, I had a dual scholarship, a football basketball scholarship from the University of Cincinnati. So I actually went down there to play both sports. But the basketball, like I said, the handles, it just didn't,

it didn't work out for me. So I ended up making the transition pretty smooth. Did you know that, did you think you were going to play quarterback in Cincinnati or did he tell you you were going to move to a different position? he told me he was going to give me the opportunity to play QB and I remember it like it was yesterday man I remember going out there the first day uh

training camp right before the season started uh my sophomore year my my redshirt freshman year my second year in the league I mean my my college my my redshirt, I didn't do anything but just sit around. That's when I told you I kind of gained that good weight. But I came in my second year, and the first day, he took me away from all the other players, and Coach Kelly was just sitting there working with my drop, my three-step drop, the one step out of the gun, little things asking me if I knew the plays here and there, if I knew how to read coverages.

And I felt like I gave him all the right answers, and he gave me an opportunity to play quarterback. He actually put me in at a wildcat position and had a few different plays off of it, but knew that I wasn't ready mentally to be able to take over this entire offense. I was too mature. But he could put me in there, and I could run a little something and do some stuff off of instincts.

But I definitely went down there with the intentions of playing both sports and being a quarterback. And basketball never happened. And football ended up – I slowly transitioned into the tight end room where I found out that I definitely belonged. So how nice was your game in high school, your quarterback game in high school? I'm not going to lie. I was a pretty selfish kid in high school, man. I was somebody. I was out there just trying to sling it and get the girls and have some fun out there on the field with the

guys. I always felt that, you know, I could get five yards. So a hitch was out of my mind. I'm not throwing a hitch, man. I could get five yards on So a hitch was out of my mind. I'm not throwing a hitch, man. He hit five yards on the ground. I was much more comfortable with the ball in my hands and running it. The coaches hated me for it. But at the same time, like I said, I was just a little immature and wasn't ready for it. But I had some success. Man, I'm looking at Ohio.

You look at the NBA players, LeBon james steph curry oakley ron harper cj mccullum john havlicek nate thurman terry rogier earl borkins and then you look at your nfl players charles wilson roppensberger starback chris carter james harris and luke keekly levion page jack lambert bruh the. You know, like, when it's all said and done, when they start mentioning, like, NFL and Ohio, Travis Kelsey is going to be on this list. So is Jason Kelsey. Yeah, I mean, bruh.

Y'all got a nice little setup here. Oh, man, it's definitely prideful. You know what I mean? Let alone being from the Midwest. I feel like a lot of Midwest cities have that blue-collar prideful mentality of i mean let alone being from the midwest i feel like a lot of midwest cities have that have that blue collar prideful mentality of where they come from uh growing up in a sports town like cleveland and just a sports state like ohio uh how much how much pride they have in football alone my father my grandfather played football my uncle played football uncle ended

up playing at Purdue. Knowing all of that, knowing what was in my bloodline and knowing where I came from and the history and the tradition and the prestige, it just fuels you mentally to want to go out there and have success. And with that, I mean, you just try and find ways to make yourself better and to go out there and find wins, man. But I'm definitely prideful and proud to be from Northeast Ohio, man.

You mentioned about how playing with your brother at the University of Cincinnati and he possibly saved your career. You had gotten into some trouble. I think if I'm not mistaken, he had already gone. You had gotten kicked off the team. And he comes back and he asked the coach to put you back on the team. And then your senior year, you catch 45 passes, 722 yards, eight touchdowns, first team all Big East.

But the previous two seasons, you had two touchdowns, 153 yards. Why were you able to take off your senior year? What was different? So the process, the timeline gonna events was my sophomore year I had the wildcat my second year in college I had the wildcat which was much ended up being my retro freshman year and then that next year I got kicked off the team yeah when I when I got kicked off the team that year was my brother's senior year he I mean the entire offseason he was begging the coaches to give me another chance and set a list of things that I had to accomplish

to be able to reap the benefit of playing football again at the University of Cincinnati or appreciate the opportunity of playing football again at the University of Cincinnati. And I'm forever thankful for that conversation. I mean, it took a lot of guts for him to be able to go in there and put his name on the line for myself, knowing that, you know, I threw this scholarship away and down the drain like it didn't mean nothing to me. to grow up and become a man or a man of my own mistakes. Because up to that point, it was always, oh, yeah, I could get away with this.

I could get away with that. Well, like my father says, the bullshit always catches up. Excuse my language. But bullshit always going to catch up. If you're out here doing the wrong things, it's going to catch up to you. Just because that's just not how you live. And like I said, I'm always here for the fun. So I'm a very passionate guy and I want to do the right things. Fun just sometimes overrode that at a young age. And to have him put his name on the line for me

and to give the coaches enough, you know, confidence that I was going to be able to be that guy for them. I was able to, you know, step into a locker room, be a leader. It still took, you know, a process and a group of men to help me and guide me in the right direction. I'm just thankful for everybody at University of Cincinnati that not only gave me that chance, but guided me in the right direction of my brothers at the forefront. It's funny because Andrew Reid drafted your brother at philly he gets terminated

he goes to kansas city he turns and drafted in draft you now there's a story i don't know how true it is you can confirm or deny this that after andy talked to you he asked to speak to your brother and asked is he gonna going to mess this up? It's the truth, man. It's the God honest truth, man. What I tell you, I had never been more excited. It was like a roller coaster of a call. And it all happened within like 15 seconds.

I get the call. It's a Missouri number. I'm thinking I'm going to St. Louis. Shout out to Jeff Fisher and everybody over there. But I did not want to go to St. Louis. At the time, the Rams did not have the recipe for success. And actually, what I didn't know is that the Chiefs didn't have that recipe for success either. They actually had a worst, which was 2-14 the year before.

So Andy Reid comes in, drafts me with his second pick, and I answer the phone thinking it's going to be St. Louis. He answers the phone, hey, how are you doing? Is this Travis? I say, yes. He said, this be St. Louis. He answers the phone. Hey, how you doing? Is this Travis? I say, yes. He said, this is Andy Reid with the Kansas City Chiefs. And I'm talking about my, whoo! Let's go, baby! I'm ready to rock and roll.

You know what I mean? I got one of the greatest coaches to ever do this. I'm ready to go, man. And he immediately takes it right back to the floor. Listen, man, this is serious. This is no goofing around. It was a whole lot of words that I would rather not repeat. He basically said, do not screw this up.

This is a serious opportunity. And he was asking me if I was going to mess it up. And they said, all right, put your brother on the phone. I was like, how did he know my brother was right here? I didn't even get in his mind. He already knows. And sure enough, you just know my brother was right here? I didn't even get in his mind. He already knows. So sure enough, you just see my brother get on the phone. I'm staring at my brother like, what are you going to say?

You know what I mean? I hope he doesn't say anything bad. And he's like, yeah, no, no, I got you. I got you. It was almost like he was asking my brother to make sure that I knew what I was getting myself into. And it reiterated. And at the end of the day I think it was something he was he was just telling him like I need you to make sure that

this dude does not screw this up because I will kick both your ass the the year you were drafted Tyler Eifert went in the first round the 21st pick to Cincinnati Zach Ertz went second 35th pick to Philly Gavin Escobar 47 to the Cowboy Vance McDonald second, 35th pick to Philly. Gavin Escobar, 47 to the Cowboy, advanced McDonald, second round 55th pick to the San Francisco 49ers. What's going through your mind? You're like, I'm better than all them cats. And I'm going to show you. I just, it just, because that's how it was.

Trav, all the receivers that went before me, I'm like, because I went to the bowl games. I don't know if you, but I went to the blue-gray game, went to the East-West Shrine game. I'm watching these guys. And I remember calling my brother my brother i said man i'm better than all these cats and i see him going off the board before me i'm like hold on wait a minute what did i miss man i'll tell you what you have to have that mentality you have to have that confidence within yourself to know that you can go out there and have success no matter where you are no matter

who's in front of you and uh and and that's just that's just the the competitive mind state that i've that i've always had um but what it really did was it made me dislike the guys that that were taking in front of me i mean it's that great guy unbelievable guy we've ended up becoming good friends over the years uh tyler i've heard the exact same way uh but what it made me do was it made me you know gain this competitiveness to to every single day uh kind of I don't know mentally be crazy enough to to outperform somebody that you don't even know what they're doing right today I told myself I'm gonna work work harder than every tight end in this league. I didn't know what Gronk was doing.

I didn't know what Ertz was doing. I didn't know what anybody else was doing. All I could do was control myself and my process and what I was doing and have confidence that I was going to keep getting better in that. And, man, throughout the years, it's been awesome to know all those guys. Vance McDonald, another guy that I absolutely love and have a tremendous respect for gavin escobar ended up coming and playing for the chiefs for a little bit um i i what it did for me was initially start the the competitive edge to be the greatest and at least try to be the greatest me and uh and that's where it started man

what was the first thing you purchased with some of the money from your rookie contract? Man, I spent it all, Shannon. I should have been on the 30 for 30 broke. The way I was. All the young guys in the league, all the guys that had the opportunity to, you know, get that big first check in from the nfl save it man

find a financial advisor that you trust that that's going to do right with your money um because i was searching around for card deals after my first year trying to you know just pay rent supplements exactly no so the one of the first things i bought was uh i'm a big sneaker fan so i and the marty mcfly's man the back to the future and the Nike airbags were uh were the the first purchase of kicks that I got I knew I wanted them ever since I saw them self-tie themselves uh on McFly's feet and then on top of that I always wanted a rollie man so I went out and got myself a rollie uh from uh from a Kansas City jewelry shop man you got to get the rollie.

I was walking in this empty apartment with some Marty McFly's on and a Rolex, man. I felt like I was the coolest guy in the world. Man, how difficult was the transition? Because what I try to tell people about, okay, look, when you were in college, you're basically playing for room and books. You got study hall. When you go to the NFL, it's a job. You're playing for mortgages.

You're playing for kids' future and college tuition. It's a whole different ballgame. Ain't nobody going to say go to study hall. Ain't nobody waking your butt up to say go to class. You got to be a professional, man, and that's why I was saying, you got to find that routine of success. What is your routine? In college, for me, it was the coaches had workouts early at 8 a.m. We had class from 9 to noon, and then we had practice at 1. That is a structured routine to give you success. That what you're doing in the weight room is a structured routine for you to get

bigger and stronger so you can have that success. Well, in the league, you don't necessarily have that. And you need to be a professional. And like I was saying, you have to own your craft. You have to own who you are. And that has grown so much throughout my career. My first couple of years, And that has grown so much throughout my career. My first couple of years, it was just, let me just show up and go to work, you know? And then throughout my years, I was starting to feel a little bit more soreness. So what do I do for that? How am I eating?

How am I doing certain things outside of the facility? Or does my day end as soon as that last meeting hits? And what it did for me was it created a lifestyle that I could lean on and a routine that I could lean on to not only stay on the field, but keep having the success that I was having on the field. There's nothing like a plan and to see that plan come to fruition. There's nothing like training, the way I eat,

the way I train, the way I do certain things, and to see that pay off on the field. Because once you see it, it's nothing like training the way I eat, the way I train, the way I do certain things and to see that pay off on the field. Because once you see it, it's just like anything. Once you see a little success and you're like, wow, that's why I'm having success. You keep that going and you, it's hard to ever get away from that. Oh yeah. And then what it does is it just fuels you to be able to nitpick it. Now it's everything's details. Now, now it's how many

carbs am i taking in how many oh you want to put a tracker in my pads how many what how many miles am i running so i can know what type of recovery that i need how much sleep i need uh in terms of hydration you can start to nitpick it to the point to to really see it becomes an obsession exactly you get obsessed with the process. That's where everybody talks about enjoy the process, enjoy the journey. That's the journey right there. Yep.

Seeing your scheduled events turn into success and just, you know, thrive in that. Know that you can be accountable for the guys next to you by doing this. How much time do you think you put into training, your nutrition, your physio, things like that? How much time do you think you put in the off season and how much time do you think you do put in during the course of a week?

Man, oh, man. When I tell you, sheesh, it's at least in the off season, at least two hours out of the five days. So Monday through Friday, you're going two hours every single day of at least spending time on muscle and body development. So whether that's you want to take that to the skill aspect or you want to mentally get after it, depending on, you know, whether it's a recovery day or whatnot. Taking that much time out of a day to just hone in and put complete focus on your craft and on your body can do wonders for you. And on top of that, throughout the week, I mean, I couldn't tell you how much I actually – because I'm a big visual guy. I like to visualize.

I like to fantasize about making plays out on the football field. So I'm never in a moment on the football field where I haven't thought about some type of way to instinctually have success. Because that's the biggest thing from going from my rookie year to my third, fourth, fifth year in the league is I understood more of what was going on around me. Right. So I was able to play faster. My mind wasn't tricking my feet up.

So being able to put that into play with the athleticism that you train for all season long or all offseason, it's needed. It's so much needed. You hear about all these guys putting in a half a million to a million dollars and just recovering. To get that blood flow circulating and to get these muscles loosened up, I mean, not only is it injury prevention, which is keeping you on the field or on the court, but it's also making you that much more efficient when you are out there. Right. And you can't say enough about what it means to recover in terms of rehab

and prehab. And I've taken it to a whole other level these past couple years, man, and it's really paying off for me. What was that first Pro Bowl experience like to get that call and says, Travis Kelsey, you've been selected to the Pro Bowl? What was that feeling like? Man, what I'll tell you is the coolest because I had just went to the year before I had just went to Scottsdale, Arizona,

when the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl was in Scottsdale or in Arizona. And I watched my brother playing his first Pro Bowl. And I saw my family's excitement during the game I had on his practice jersey. And I was out there being a fanboy all over again. And to be able to see my family's excitement that I was out there, that my brother was out there with all the stars, all the guys that are dancing in the end zone, all the guys that, you know, the names, the top names in the National Football League,

to see the smiles on their face, to, you know, oh, there he goes, there he goes. That's everything. That's everything I've ever needed in life to be able to give me motivation. Because making my parents proud of who I am has always been the number one goal for me, knowing how fortunate I was as a kid and how much they gave me as a kid. And that first Pro Bowl in Hawaii, man, I tell you, is like nothing else, man.

Not only was it my first Pro Bowl, but I got to sign my first extension in Hawaii on that day, on that week. And man, it was my family was out there with me, and we had a few Mai Tais up there. You want to see some waves come in? It was a beautiful scene, man.

Rookie, you got to buy the Mai Tais, bro. I know they hit you up real... Hopefully, when you went to Y, they didn't get you. Hey, Trav, what's your room number? You give them the room number and you get that bill. They're like, man, they done got me. Listen, listen. The first time, I was ready for it all, man.

I was ready to take the hit, man. I'll tell you, I'll pay my dues, man. Last year, you guys had a miraculous run because no one had ever done this, what you guys did, to fall behind by double digits and then turn around and win every game by double digits on your way to the Super Bowl. So let's start first with the Houston Texans.

You fall behind 24-0. What's going through your mind on the sidelines when they kick that field goal to go up 24-0? What's going through your mind? Well, the first thing that was going through our mind was initially frustration. Right. You start to ask yourselves, why is this happening? Why is this happening?

Like, oh, man, it must be something out of our control. You know what I mean? Like something like the football guys just got it against us, man. We did something. We ain't living right or something. And then you face reality. Coaches come together. We come together as a collective group,

and everything we were doing was self-inflicted. Right. Penalties. It was missed assignments. It was dropped. A couple dropped passes. Exactly. It was stuff that we could control.

And once we found out and kind of got regrouped by Pat, by Coach Eric, the enemy, everybody kind of just locked in. And from there, we showed our personalities. Coach Reed dialed up the right stuff for us to be able to march down the field in an unstoppable performance by Patrick Mahomes and what he did to surge us back into that game and then just take us into a blowout, man. The next game, you're the Tennessee Titans.

They were the hottest team in the playoffs. They had gone on the road beating the New England Patriots and for all intents and purposes, broken up the dynasty. They go to Baltimore and beat the unanimous MVP. So they're coming in red hot. They got Derrick Henry who's running over everybody. You fall behind 10-0 and you're like, here we go again. I'll tell you what, it was a little bit different of a feeling.

I honestly never felt frustrated in the Tennessee game. I was never, it was never a down moment in the Tennessee game. I always had confidence that we were just right there. You know, we might not have been in the lead, but I still felt like, you know, we had a good grasp of the position that we were in. all it took was a couple plays right before half uh pat went out there and had his famous you know hezzy hezzy move on the line hit this unathletic spin on somebody and just find his way into the end zone um he had that moment and then the momentum just

kind of just takes over and and it's all about the greatness that 1-5 is and just following his lead, man, because in those moments, you need your quarterback to be great. Now you're on the biggest stage. You can't ask for anything more than this. You're here. A couple of years earlier, you witnessed your brother go to the Super Bowl. They win it. And you're like, we're here.

And you're down 10. Start the fourth. What's going through your mind? I'm not going to lie. That's when it did get a little frustrating. You know, you go into the fourth and, you know, you just can't get it going, whether it's the angle in which guys are coming out of routes or, you know, it's just minimal stuff that we haven't been hitting on,

whether it's a slant, a just haven't been hitting on, whether it's a slant, a flat route, little stuff like that, getting one extra guy blocked in the run game. It started to get just a little bit frustrating, and you started to see a lot of your hopes and a lot of your dreams start to slip out of your grasp. And all I can say is that, you know, the leaders and the coaches in this locker room, when adversity hits,

it's almost as if we flip a switch and it stayed true ever since, you know, those first couple of playoff games. And it's really, I think it's, it dates back to the Patriots AFC championship game the year before. Yes. Where we know we have that capability to turn this thing on, lock in,

and play our best football when needed. You know what I mean? Tom Brady got us that day. He was, he had the ball the last time, he was the one that had the ball in OT and scored his touchdown. He got us that day, but we knew that we belonged, you know, and what that did for us is mentally we had this switch to where no matter

what point in time it is, no matter how much doubt you got, it's time to go. We need to lock in and be ourselves, and, I mean, we just have great leadership. It starts up top and just trickles down from Coach Andy Reid all the way down to the offensive and defensive coaches to the offensive and defensive captains. And it's definitely a pleasure to be in, and it's something special to be a part of.

Clock goes down to zero. Super Bowl's over. Confetti starts to fall down on the field. What's going through Kelsey's mind? We, man, I can still picture it because I don't know if you've been down to Miami's new stadium, man, but it's got the perfect opening to make you feel like you're in heaven, man, when that confetti's flying down.

I just looked up. I tapped Coach Bien-Ami like, man, look at this. It looks like stars were flying out of the sky, man. It was just to reach the mountaintop the way we did together. You know, and you can say it was one guy because Pat Mahomes played his tail off the entire playoffs and led us to all those victories. But we did it as a collective group. And he'll even tell you that, man.

And it was just, it was so much fun. And I cherish those memories with every single one of those guys on the team. It had been 50 years since you guys had won the Super Bowl. How special was it to win for Kansas City? And what was it like going to that parade and seeing all that red and all those fans like we brought this we brought this Lombardi back to Kansas City you want to talk I mean you know you know it just like everybody else over there in Bronco country Kansas City fans are going to show up man yes they're going to get loud and they're going to give give you all the passion that they got

and uh I'm so fortunate to not only land in this organization but to be here in this city i think it embodies a lot of uh the values that i have uh in life which is very prideful where i come from um very blue-collared work your tail off for what you uh what you work your tail off for what you want in this world and um and kansas city is every bit of that man and i uh i would i'm just you know i'm still prideful to you know keep bringing uh the success and the rings back to kansas city knowing that uh they put their all every single sunday that we go out there what do you think has been the most difficult part about repeating? Patience. Getting through the season

to get to where we are now. Sometimes you, I feel like coming into it, all you can think about is the playoffs all over again. All right, yeah, we're going to make the playoffs. Mentally, you say that to yourself.

We're going to make the playoffs. We have a great group. We got Patrick Mahomes, the best player in the National Football League, leading it. We're going to make the playoffs we have a great group we got Patrick Mahomes the best player in the National Football League leading it we're going to we're going to make the playoffs mentally being able to lock in every single week so that dream that that that situation happens that's been the hardest thing because you wanted to fast forward man you you want you want all the all these games to to take care of themselves. You handle business in the division.

You handle business to get the number one seed. But you really want to get back to this point right here. Right. The playoffs, to be able to go through that journey, that, you know, this is the last dance. It's either win or go home. Right. That's been probably the most difficult part.

And we're here now. So now that we got all the most difficult, difficult part. And we're here now. So now that we got all that over with, I can just go out here and really play for another Super Bowl, man. And, well, I'm a week early. We still got to go out here and take care of the charges. But I would definitely say just be impatient and not letting complacency set in while we're kind of, you know, gearing up for the playoffs. And that's what my question was. How have you been able to

avoid complacency? I think leadership, man. I would say, you know, call me silly, but I think leadership was what they had in Seattle when they went back to back. Leadership is what they have in New England for all those years. Kansas City, we have great leaders. We have guys that it matters when we come into the building to have the accountability to do our job for the guy next to us. And when you have guys like that every single day that love to come in to work, love what they do, enjoy the process of getting better at football,

and enjoy the competitiveness, and don't get complacent with that, that's special. And when you know you have that, it just gears it up. It turns it up even more. Like you said, you get obsessed with it. It kind of oozes out of you every single day you wake up. And it's contagious. I think the biggest thing for us is that going back to back,

I remember Mike told us to start when we were starting the – we won in 97, beat the Packers, and then we were coming back to try to repeat. And I remember Mike, in his very first meeting, he told us there have been a lot of teams that's won one in a row. He said, if you want to be special, repeat. And he said, we're going to take it one week at a time. And what we did, the way we approached it, Travis,

that he was just putting the game up that we were playing that week. We didn't know who the next game was, and then the next week, and then the next week. And then once we got there, you know, we ended the season 14-2, and it was like, okay, let's go win the Super Bowl. And it was about, we didn't care about who got the credit because there's going to be enough of the cake to go around that everybody's going to get a piece.

Now, clearly, your piece is not going to be as big as Mahomes or the guys are not going to be as big as yours or Tyreek or some of the other guys. But you'll get a piece. You'll get a slice of the cake as long as you play your part. Everybody has a part, whether it part everybody's part whether it's special teams whether it's offense defense the holder everybody has a role to play nobody's role is more important everybody's role can upend this card and so that's the way we approached it and

i'm talking to you and it sounds like man i've never had this conversation with him before and he's talking like the very things that we've said as a team is that let's handle business game to game. Let's get out of this season healthy. Now let's go win another Super Bowl. Without a doubt. And that's the makeup of a championship team is when you have the guys in place, you know, that understand their role,

that understand their success within this game. It just makes everything go that much smoother. And I was saying in terms of leadership, what leadership is is Coach Reed does an unbelievable job of trying to get everybody involved. He tries to make sure that everybody gets a piece of that pie on the offensive side. Yeah.

And what that does is it helps everybody else out. When you have to cover all five, you know, skill players out there on the field, that makes it, that makes my job easier when Tyreek takes two guys and I know I'm singled up. Or if Tyreek are both getting doubled, a guy like Sammy Watkins or Mecole Hardman or Demarcus Robinson are singled up. Or we got, you know, Le'Veon Bell on a linebacker. You know, these mismatches start to become more of an issue for defenses when you try to, you know, alter your defense towards one guy. And Coach Reed understands that.

He understands what defenses are going to try and do. And it just makes this machine, this offensive machine, just that much better. But like we said, man, it just goes to the leadership that you got in that building and in that locker room to make sure that everybody's doing their job and, you know, not only that, but excited about doing their job. Yeah, I think it does a great service. I think Andy does a great job.

And Patrick does a great job. Of guys on the field don't always feel like they're decoys because at any given moment as you mentioned Robinson he caught the game winner last week it might be him it might be Hardman it might be Sammy you know you and Tyreek you guys are going to get your go get your targets but it's these other guys that sometimes they don't get a catch in a game that all of a sudden but they still know they're running, they're busting their butts knowing, but hey, this still might be my moment. He might put it up to her.

So, hey, I can't fall asleep on this route. Oh, yeah. And that's the fun about playing in this offense, man. One five is going to find you if you're open. And we just try to take advantage of all those opportunities, man. We got unbelievable, unbelievable men in this locker room, man. I want to ask you something that happened in week five. The Raiders beat you guys in Kansas City. Did you know that they took a victory lap around Arrowhead a couple of times,

or when did you find out about it? I found out in the media, as everybody else did. And then when we played them later on in the season, everybody made sure that we knew about it. You know, good for them, man. Good for them. But that's what they feel like they got to do after a win. You know, we beat the top dogs. You know, do your thing, man. But excuse me, I think it's, you know, it's all about that.

When you guys beat them in Vegas, did Andy take you all to drive down the strip he said it is himself man that's that's not our gig man we don't do that kind of stuff we just take we try and take care of business on the field man and just leave it right there um i think it was uh it was a lot of and i've been the little brother my entire life so i understand i think it was a lot of uh the little of the little brother beating the big brother and feeling pretty bold about it. But we all knew what was real and that I feel like at least I threw away the game for us. And that loss, if we don't lose another one from here on out,

which we don't plan on, that loss is going to hold some weight for me for a long, long time. Are you superstitious? holds them back for me for a long, long time. Are you superstitious? I would say that I'm not, but I do believe that there is a little bit of karma in some things that I'm doing. So, I mean, do you eat the same pregame meal? Do you drive the same way to practice?

Do you get the same room at the hotel the night before a game? What are some of the things that you would do? I wouldn't take it to that extent because pregame meal is the same every single time whenever we're on the road. I'm always eating French toast before a game. So, I mean, I guess that's about it. You know, I'm a French toast guy.

French toast, oatmeal, and egg whites. No syrup. See, I need that sweet. I need that kick, that delight. I would say – See, I'm superstitious. I'm superstitious. Trav, I was superstitious.

Like, if I went somewhere – like, if I go to Kansas City, because we're going to stay at the same hotel for the most part. If I had a good game, I'm going to stay in the same room. I got the same – we're at home. I'm staying in the same room. I'm driving the same way to the stadium. I'm going to stay in the same room. I got the same way at home. I'm staying in the same room. I'm driving the same way to the stadium. I'm going in front of the elevator. I'm going to press the button, and I got to stand in front of the elevator door,

which I think is going to open first. And then once that – if I get that thing right on the first try, somebody in trouble, Trav. Trav, about to get a note hung on him. I hear you. I hear you. I would say I'm superstitious, and I got to live right, man. If I'm not living right, I know it's going to be a note hung on him. I hear you. I hear you. I would say I'm superstitious and I got to live right, man. If I'm not living right, I know it's going to be a rough day for me.

So I just make sure that I'm living right throughout the week so I can feel comfortable going into a game. But in terms of game day, having little stuff like that, for me, I started off doing that when I was younger in the NFL. And if one thing went wrong, it would just be like, ah. Whether it was, you know, I forgot my special undershirt that I was going to wear out for pregame or something like that.

I was just like, man, it just, you know, it makes you feel out of whack. It makes you feel like you got to do something else to, to make up for that. Or, you know, it just doesn't, it's not the same routine. So obviously I'm not going to have the same success. Other things start to play in my mind and I just become a mental midget out there, man. I screw everything up. What makes Andy Reid an offensive genius?

Man, I would say it's creativity, but it goes more than just the creativity. would say it's creativity but it goes more than just the creativity it's um it's the work that he puts in to understand what other defenses are doing so that he can have the creativity in in in place if that makes sense so his his knowledge of another team's defense his understanding of what they're doing what what they're trying to take away, how they're leveraging guys, his understanding of that allows him to be creative in the routes that we're running and allows us to have success in the routes that we're running. And it sets us up for success. It puts us in positions to where it enhances my skill set.

And for an offensive guy, an offensive coach to be able to always, you know, put their players in a position to have that success or to have the upper hand, that's what more can you ask for as a player? That opportunity right there, man-to-man, to go up against somebody that I have had success, you know, doing this. You know, you get an outside leverage man. Well, let's run deep cross. I get a guy that's head up. Let's run a fake deep cross and come back out, sail out.

Whatever it is that the defense is doing, Coach Reed always has an answer for it. And as a player, man, as long as you know how to set these routes up and play with that leverage, play with the scheme, man, you can have all the success in the world. Where does the swag come from? We don't normally see guys like yourself as swagalicious as you guys are. I see the LV Rose.

I see the Dior. I see the Greg Lord. I see all I'm like, hold on, bro. What's really going on? Where did that come from? You just got to enjoy it, man. I personally, I think it comes from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, where I come from every day of my life. They don't dress like that in Cleveland Heights, bro. You got to try something today. You will be surprised. We got two different sides of the city. Oh, okay.

You will be surprised. We got two different sides of the city. Oh, okay. We got the side that's predominant. We just have different social classes. So we have one social class where it's two, $3 million houses and then other ones that we have apartment living. So you have both sides of the spectrum of where I come from. And so every day, it was a fashion statement. And then, I mean, on top of that, you see a nice car coming by, you know, everybody knows who's in that car and what it is and you get excited for it. But, uh, it's, it's just always been in me to, uh,

to appreciate that kind of stuff, man. And have fun with it. It's never been something that I, that I've, you know, I've focused on or anything like that. It's just kind of always just been the natural, just who I am, and it just oozes out of me. A lot of people kind of throw the word swag into, you know, what you wear, what you drive, and all that side of stuff. Man, swagger is how you wear it and how you drive it, you know,

and just to have that that uh that that comfortable and confident you and no matter what you're doing man that's the real swagger right there did you know like man if i ever get me some cheese bro this i'm just i'm gonna rock it i'm gonna rock it like this you know it man you know i was never a chain down to your belly button kind of guy you know what i Right. Just keep it right here around the collar. Right. This is something nice and subtle, man. So you're more of a clothes as opposed to a jewelry guy?

For the most part, yeah. Don't get me wrong. You got to have your ice, man. Yeah, you got to have a few pieces. You don't need 10. You don't need 10 pieces. OK, you need one or two chains, a watch. I'm good. I was telling my parents

I like the subtle aspect of jewelry you know what I mean just a little bit of shine here and there I usually got my chain tucked but since I was at Club Shea Shea I thought you know what I mean let her walk I appreciate you bringing out the spark a lot I see that I see that Trav bro I really appreciate the time

man I know you got a busy week coming up. Stay healthy. Get out of this game healthy if you play. Good luck along the way, brother. I'll catch you down the road, but I want to really thank you for coming on today, bro. This ain't the last time, big dog. I appreciate you. All right, well, hey, after you win the Super Bowl, come back.

I'll be right back in the club, baby. Appreciate it, bro. Good looking. All right, now. Have a good one nephew Shannon you the best dog appreciate it got the roll of dice that's why all my life I be grinding all my life. Sacrifice. Hustle paid the price. Want a slice. Got to roll the dice.

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