Travis Kelce has already built a Hall of Fame case over 13 NFL seasons, but Tom Brady thinks the Chiefs star might have put up even bigger numbers if their careers had lined up differently.
On a recent appearance on the New Heights podcast, Brady said Kelce could have been a 110- or 120-catch player a year if he had been in his offense early in his career.
"You've had a unique athleticism, Trav, I will say that. Silky smooth route runner, like incredible feel out there.
Like I think if I played with you, you would have had 110, 120 [catches] a year," Brady said. "Not that you don't have that with Patrick [Mahomes], but I like your style of play because I feel like there was a way you ran routes and you always had an ability to like, you know, feel the coverage and then turn in when they told you to turn up but who cares because you're open.
Julian [Edelman] did that a little for me, Wes [Welker] did that a lot for me. Some guys don't really have that feel, but I just watch you play and I'm like, 'Yep, just like that'."
It was a strong endorsement from Brady, who is widely expected to go down as the greatest quarterback of all time. Brady never got Kelce as a target, but he did have Rob Gronkowski, another tight end who belongs in the all-time conversation.
Kelce, for his part, has hardly had a rough run at quarterback. He spent the early part of his career catching passes from Alex Smith, then later teamed up with Patrick Mahomes, and the results have been obvious.
Now a three-time Super Bowl champion, Kelce spent years as the standard at tight end. He’s not in his absolute peak anymore, but he’s still a top-tier player. Hearing Brady talk about him that way had to land as a pretty special moment, even if Chiefs fans weren’t exactly shocked by the compliment.
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