Jason Kelce Argues Why His Brother Travis Has An Edge Over Rob Gronkowski and Tony Gonzalez

There’s no debating that while the Kansas City Chiefs had an NFL-best 15-2 regular season record last year, they did not do it in dominant fashion at all. In fact, two of their best players, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, had arguably the worst individual seasons of their careers. Mahomes is still in his physical prime and is likely to bounce back, but Kelce is turning 36 this season.

Last year, Kelce had just 823 yards and three TDs, both career lows. And he didn’t turn it on in the playoffs like he had the year before, grabbing just 13 balls for 175 yards and a TD across three games. It seems age may be catching up with him finally. Only two tight ends have ever made the Pro Bowl at age 36 or older: Dave Brown and Tony Gonzalez (twice).

Even if he doesn’t produce another big statistical season, Kelce is already in the conversation for the greatest tight end of all-time alongside guys like Gonzalez, Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Gates, and Jason Witten. Kelce’s brother, fellow NFL standout Jason Kelce, believes that Kelce has a leg up on the others in that debate for one nebulous reason.

“There will be arguments about him versus Gronk, versus Tony Gonzalez. But I don’t think anybody has ever been as unique of a player in that spot.”

What he means by that, we’re not really sure, as GQ did not allow him to elaborate. Most likely, he means Kelce’s innate ability to find soft spots in zone coverage or his telepathic chemistry with Mahomes. But those are hardly big enough reasons to put him ahead of those other titans at the position.

Blocking is often downplayed in these TE discussions, but it shouldn’t be. Gronkowski and Witten were, without a doubt, the best blockers of that group. They were actually considered to be good blockers overall, not just for the TE spot. Gonzalez was decent, while Kelce and Gates didn’t really put much effort into that pursuit.

When it comes to regular season output, no one is really touching Gonzalez. The guy was a First-Team All-Pro at age 36 for crying out loud. He racked up 15,127 yards (nearly 2k more than Witten in second) on 1,325 receptions (nearly 100 more than Witten in second), both all-time records for TEs. His 111 TDs are second behind only Gates.

Kelce, meanwhile, is 3,000 yards and 300 receptions from matching Gonzalez. The fellow Chiefs TE also has Kelce beat in Pro Bowls (14 to 10) and First-Team All-Pro nods (6 to 4).  Those marks will take four more seasons playing at an elite level to match. No small feat. And we’re not sure he’s got that in him based on how he faltered in the postseason last year.

Where Kelce does have all of his TE peers beat, however, is in postseason performances. His 2,078 yards and 20 TD receptions in the playoffs are second (among all players, not just TEs) only to the great Jerry Rice. His 178 receptions are No. 1 all-time.

Travis Kelce may have all the postseason TE milestones. But to surpass the likes of Gonzalez and Witten as the greatest TE ever (guys who were both more effective blockers and had more longevity), he’ll need to play until he’s 40 and beat all those Gonzalez records. Injuries kept Gronkowski from putting up similarly epic numbers, but he’ll always be in the conversation as well.