Travis Kelce’s day at Chiefs training camp looked a lot like what you’d expect from a veteran who knows exactly how to manage the grind.
Friday’s practice in St. Joseph opened with cooler, wetter conditions after early morning rain, a welcome break from the usual July heat and humidity. For Kelce, 36 and entering the 14th and possibly final camp of Andy Reid’s tenure with him, it was the kind of morning that lets a player work without having to fight the weather too.
Before the 9:15 a.m. start, Kelce made his way from the locker room to the field alongside wide receiver Rashee Rice. Once practice began, the tight ends got to work on blocking drills, and Kelce immediately showed the mix of skills that still define his game.
He came off a block, turned to catch a pass from a coach, then stepped into the role of a defender and gave a teammate resistance on a similar rep. Not long after, he ran a quick route and caught another coach-thrown pass.
As the offense came together, Kelce joined the full group and went through team work with Patrick Mahomes and the rest of the unit. On one play without the defense, Mahomes handed off to Kenneth Walker while Kelce went in motion and would have blocked. Soon after, Mahomes hit Kelce on a short pass, the kind of connection Chiefs fans are counting on again once the season opens in September.
Drue Tranquill said there hasn’t been much change in how Kelce approaches camp. “Looks young, man.
Looks spruce. Looks like a guy who just got married,” Tranquill said, smiling as he referenced Kelce’s wedding weeks earlier to Taylor Swift.
“He’s looking good.
“Him and Patrick (Mahomes) seem to have that connection they’ve always had, connecting on some critical third downs. Rough practice over the past few days, and he’s in there blocking. I mean, he’s in line and blocking, so they’re still asking him to do everything.”
Kelce’s work wasn’t limited to catches. He was also in the mix on run plays, throwing his body into blocking assignments against defensive ends like George Karlaftis. And while he blended in with the offense in red most of the time, his red-and-yellow Air Jordan 10 PE’s made him easy to spot on the field.
The Mahomes-to-Kelce chemistry showed up again during 7-on-7 work, when Kelce caught a short pass in space and kept moving before being met by Tyquan Thornton, who had been blocking. After Jalen Royals had a pass broken up, Mahomes and Kelce briefly talked through what went wrong. Later, in 11-on-11, Mahomes dropped a perfect throw into Kelce’s hands for what would have been a gain of more than 20 yards.
Kelce kept running after the play was over, carrying the ball inside the 20-yard line before looping back toward the action. Like most of his teammates, he wasn’t doing extra running unless the play called for it, and he spent plenty of time walking between reps. Once Mahomes gave way to the backup quarterbacks, Kelce drifted to the sideline and talked with Mahomes about the completed play.
He also made time to greet teammates elsewhere on the field, including Jake Briningstool after an encouraging word from Kelce following a catch from Justin Fields, and Jimmy Holiday after Holiday made a sideline grab on a Fields pass.
Harrison Butker was sharp during the field-goal period, knocking through nearly every attempt, and the day wrapped with another special teams segment and light conditioning. The full practice lasted 1 hour, 55 minutes, and Kelce headed back to the dorms for meetings and the rest of his preparation before Saturday’s session.
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