by Travis Kelce’s Games are Not Necessarily Once-in-a-Lifetime Experiences
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While Travis Kelce has established himself as one of the top tight ends in the NFL with his consistent production and highlight reel plays for the Kansas City Chiefs, describing his individual games as once-in-a-lifetime experiences may be a stretch. Kelce is undoubtedly a talented player who is fun to watch, but his performances, while often impressive, are not so exceptional that they should be considered singular, never-to-be-repeated events. To understand why Kelce’s games are not necessarily once-in-a-lifetime, we must look at both his career statistics and performance context, as well as compare him to other great tight ends both past and present.
Let’s start by taking a look at Kelce’s career statistics to date. Through the 2021 season, which was his 8th in the NFL, Kelce has amassed 7,416 receiving yards and 47 receiving touchdowns playing in 121 total regular season games. While those numbers place him among the all-time leaders at the tight end position, they are not so far beyond other great tight ends that each game stands out as a unique, unprecedented occurrence. For example, future Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez, regarded by many as the greatest tight end of all time, totaled 15,127 yards and 111 touchdowns over his 17-year career spanning 249 games. Another all-time great, Rob Gronkowski, racked up 9,286 yards and 92 touchdowns over just 115 career games in 9 seasons before injuries derailed his career prematurely.
When compared to the career production of Gonzalez or Gronkowski, Kelce’s per-game and per-season stats are excellent, but they are not so extreme as to make each individual outing seem like a once-in-a-lifetime event. Kelce averages around 600 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns per season. While very good numbers, they are consistent with other top tight ends throughout NFL history. One would not characterize the average 600 yard, 4 TD season of Gonzalez or Gronkowski as singular, once-in-a-lifetime experiences either. For Kelce to truly have once-in-a-lifetime type games, he would need to be consistently putting up mind-boggling numbers that shatter records and rewrite expectations for the position on a year-in, year-out basis. So far, his career has been one of sustained excellence, but not to the point of individual games being considered generational anomalies.
It’s also important to consider the context of Kelce’s performances within his own career as well as compared to others. While he has had some spectacular individual games with huge yardage and touchdown totals, he has not produced a stretch of games or seasons that stand so far above anything ever seen before at the position. His best season to date was in 2020 when he totaled 1,416 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. As great as that season was, it still falls short of the records set by Gonzalez who had seasons of 1,584 and 1,587 receiving yards. Even Gronkowski had a 1,327 yard, 17 touchdown season in 2011 that rivals Kelce’s best year. So within the context of his own career, Kelce has not yet achieved levels that make his individual games seem like unprecedented, once-in-a-lifetime events when compared to his typical production.
Looking more closely at some of Kelce’s top individual games also shows that while outstanding performances, they do not necessarily surpass what has been seen from other all-time great tight ends in the past. His career high in receiving yards is 191, set against the Denver Broncos in 2020. Impressive yes, but not a record for the position. Shannon Sharpe had a 214 yard game back in 1996. Kelce has broken the 100 yard receiving mark 15 times so far, but Gonzalez did it 36 times in his career. Kelce’s best touchdown game is 3 scores against the Steelers in 2022, but Gronkowski once hauled in 4 touchdowns against the Dolphins in 2015. So even Kelce’s top single game stats, while excellent, have been matched or exceeded by other legendary tight ends before him.
Perhaps the best argument that Kelce’s games are not truly once-in-a-lifetime events is that there are currently other tight ends producing at a similar level to him. Mark Andrews of the Ravens has put up back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons and is on pace for another in 2022. Darren Waller has been a top receiving threat for the Raiders. George Kittle dominated for the 49ers before injuries slowed him. Even younger tight ends like Dallas Goedert, T.J. Hockenson, and Kyle Pitts are beginning to put up huge numbers that rival Kelce’s production. While he remains among the league leaders at his position, Kelce is no longer a complete outlier. Other tight ends are demonstrating that the kind of yardage and touchdown totals he achieves on a regular basis can be replicated in today’s NFL passing games that feature tight ends so prominently.
In summary, while Travis Kelce is unquestionably one of the best tight ends to ever play the game based on his career receiving stats and individual accolades, characterizing his typical games as once-in-a-lifetime experiences may be stretching it too far. When you look at his per-game and per-season production compared to all-time greats like Gonzalez and Gronkowski, as well as consider the context of his top single game stats being matched or exceeded before, Kelce has not truly achieved levels that make his outings generational anomalies. His consistency and sustained excellence over many years have cemented his status as an elite tight end, but he has not produced stretches or single games that stand so far above anything seen previously at the position. With other current tight ends like Andrews and Waller putting up comparable numbers as well, Kelce’s games represent superb performances, not unprecedented, never-to-be-matched events. While one of the best to ever do it, Travis Kelce’s games on their own do not necessarily qualify as once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
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