Travis Kelce is clearly frustrated with the way things have gone for the Kansas City Chiefs in recent weeks, but former NFL safety Rodney Harrison thinks the star tight end should do a better job of being a team leader.
Alex Smith threw an interception late in Sunday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills that sealed Kansas City’s fate, and Kelce appeared to be wide open on the play. Rather than trying to make a play on the Bills defender who picked the pass off, Kelce flung his head back in disgust.
Harrison, who is one of the hosts on NBC’s “Football Night in America,” unloaded on Kelce for quitting.
“He’s the captain of this team, and this is just absolute terrible effort,” Harrison said, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “When things are going great, he’s dancing, he’s partying. But as soon as he hits a little adversity, he pouts."
“The game is on the line — hustle, get back, you are the captain of this team. If I’m in that locker room, I’d would go to him and say, ‘If you’re going to be captain of the team, you have to be able to lead, and you lead with effort.’ That’s not good enough. […] Remember last week when I said Kansas City was not playing with passion, that’s exactly what I was talking about.”
After looking like an MVP candidate through the first half of the season, Smith has played poorly over the last three games and has four interceptions during that stretch. The Chiefs have lost five of their last six.
There have been rumblings that Smith should be benched for rookie Patrick Mahomes, and Kelce is one of the people who has praised the rookie for the “unbelievable” job he has done in practice. It’s fair to wonder if Kelce wants the Chiefs to make a change at quarterback, but we all know how Andy Reid feels about that.
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