KC Chiefs: Five things we learned from win over Jacksonville
By Mike Norris
TRAVIS KELCE IS A BEAST (BUT WE ALREADY KNEW THAT)
It’s Wednesday and you need a Chiefs’ fix four days before the game. You decide to head online and check out the team’s all-time receiving stats when — silly you — you remember Tony Gonzalez pretty much owns them all.
Here is how the future Hall of Famer stacks up against the next closest Chief in all-time team history major receiving stat categories :
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Betsided
Receptions
Gonzalez — 916
Dwayne Bowe — 532
Receiving Yards
Gonzalez — 10,940
Otis Taylor — 7,306
Receiving Touchdowns
Gonzalez — 76
Taylor — 57
Why mention Gonzalez, who played for the Chiefs from 1997-2008, after a game in 2018? Because if current tight end Travis Kelce stays healthy and is in KC for the long run, Gonzalez’s number could be in jeopardy.
After hauling in five receptions for 100 yards against a Jaguars team that had allowed just 135 yards to tight ends through four games, per James Palmer of the NFL Network, Kelce now has 28 receptions, 407 yards and three touchdowns on the year. In four-plus seasons the former Cincinnati Bearcat has 335 receptions, 4,307 yards, and 25 scores.
Chiefs TE Travis Kelce finished with 5 catches for 100 yards. The Jags has given up 135 yards total to TEs through 4 games. We talked that Jaguars defense, how chippy it actually got out there, and he has a few nicknames for Patrick Mahomes to throw in the ring. pic.twitter.com/GKfqAeZsqD
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) October 7, 2018
Those numbers put him in ninth place all-time in team history in all three categories. Every player in front of him played at least six seasons for the Chiefs and an average year the rest of the way would move Kelce into fifth place in receptions and seventh in yards (he’s still eight shy of Henry Marshall and Carlos Carson‘s 33 career touchdown catches).
Kelce’s greatness is nothing new for Chiefs fans, but his fourth consecutive strong performance following a one-catch, six-yard effort in the season-opener against the Los Angeles Chargers proves he is in the top tier of tight ends once again.
Kelce is just one of many weapons Mahomes has at his disposal each game, and considering he is the best tight end in the league not named Rob Gronkowski, he’s a luxury every Chiefs’ fan should never take for granted.