Opinions have been swirling about whether Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce’s relationship with pop star Taylor Swift has had a positive or negative impact on his performance this season.
Kelce got off to a slow start, with just eight catches for 69 yards and no touchdowns in the Chiefs’ first three games, two of which Swift attended in person.
Despite some critics blaming Swift for Kelce’s underwhelming stats (by his standards), the numbers show there’s little difference in his performance between games she attends — 13 catches for 109 yards — and games she doesn’t — 15 catches for 136 yards.
More significant, however, is how Kelce’s relationship with Swift is perceived within the Chiefs’ locker room, and whether his teammates feel it’s affecting his play.
Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo addressed this on a recent episode of “The Dan Le Batard Show.”
“I don’t hear it; I don’t feel that — I’m not flipping through the phone trying to figure [out if he’s distracted or not],” Spagnuolo said. “So, I wasn’t really aware [people were talking about his relationship as a distraction].
Every once in a while, you might hear something, but we don’t worry about Travis. Listen, Travis, there are some guys in all of professional sports that you know when you’re going to need them the most, they’ll show up, and that’s Travis.”
Kelce has acknowledged that Swift faces unnecessary backlash when she attends his games, but he has been handling it well so far.
Still, he’s aware that the criticism could intensify if the Chiefs start losing.
“We’ve just got to keep winning,” Kelce said on his “New Heights” podcast last week. “If we lose, it’s going to absolutely f***ing rain down, baby. Just got to keep winning and staying on top.”
