Travis Kelce’s wedding to Taylor Swift may have been packed with star power, but not everyone around the Chiefs came away feeling included.
According to multiple Chiefs players, the invite list has already set off a round of private chatter, with group chats and direct messages filling up fast after some teammates realized they weren’t part of the celebration. One player told the Daily Mail that the wedding invite situation has turned into locker-room noise, especially around Harrison Butker.
Butker’s absence became its own talking point. The Chiefs player said the decision not to invite him led to snippy text messages in various group chats, and that some players who are close to Butker took it personally.
“It’s really their wedding, and I understand why they wouldn’t have invited [Butker]. But there’s some difference of opinion [between players].
Lots of texts are going around the team, and some people who are close to Harrison feel like he was snubbed.”
That same player said the team’s internal reaction has been messy enough that people are actively trying to stir it up. “There’s now a lot of gossip going on.
Training camp [for the new NFL season] starts in three weeks, and it’s going to be a whole thing. A lot of guys want it to be drama [between Butker and Kelce].
They just like that s**t… a couple of the guys are being messy and texting Harrison to see what he thinks. We’re like a high school team sometimes.”
A second Chiefs player painted the picture of a roster split into a bunch of smaller message threads, not one giant team chat. “It’s not like all of us are in the same [group chat].
The team is too big. So there are groups that might just be like defense [players], or a certain group of guys.
There are some with me in, some without me. I am in about seven chains of players, some are professional… some are just used for talking s**t.”
He added that the wedding talk was mostly happening in the chats where Travis Kelce wasn’t included. “I think most of the texts about the wedding are probably being sent in the groups without Travis.
I have one that has about eight of us, and, before the wedding, it was like ‘Who’s going?’ And everyone was saying where they were staying, or why they weren’t going.”
The same player said the attendance was lighter than some might expect. “I think maybe half the team went, probably less.
A lot of people RSVP’d no, not because of anything bad, but because of a conflict. I didn’t go because I didn’t want to spend the 4th in New York and couldn’t bring my kids.”
There was also some joking around about gifts. “Some people asked, ‘Do we have to send them a gift?’, because they have more money than us, which was funny.
People were coming up with funny things to send. I thought it would be funny to send him something that was monogrammed ‘Mr and Mrs Swift’.
That type of thing. We sent each other memes and pictures.”
The first Chiefs player said the team’s reaction hasn’t crossed into real hostility. “Can’t say too much because Travis is my friend… Yeah, there are a few group texts.
I’m on one with Harrison [Butker]. Someone sent a news story about him not being invited, and the group was like ‘WTF?’
But he didn’t reply.”
He also pushed back on the idea that the wedding has created a true rift. “I don’t think anyone on the team wishes [Kelce] anything but good things.
Everyone likes him. He’s a good teammate and a good friend.
There’s locker room s**t, but it’s nothing disrespectful.”
Most of the practical talk, he said, was about the wedding itself. “Most of [our group] texts were just logistics about how people were getting from their hotels to the wedding, or what everyone was going to wear.
The women [players’ wives and girlfriends] have other text groups. Taylor is officially a football wife now, and she’ll be invited to their wine nights and stuff, but she won’t go.
I’m sure of that. But if you want trash talk, you have to see their group texts.
My girlfriend won’t even let me look at her phone to see it.”
Kelce and Swift invited more than 1,000 people to the wedding, including Jason Kelce, Austin Swift, Ed and Donna Kelce, Scott and Andrea Swift, Andy Reid, Patrick and Brittany Mahomes, Chris Jones, and Isiah Pacheco. Retired NFL linebacker Will Compton also publicly said he was stunned not to get an invite.
One Chiefs player said there’s still time for the situation to cool off before training camp starts in three weeks.
In Other News...
Kansas State Just Sent A Surprising Message About Andrej Kosti
Andrej Kostic arrived at Kansas State with the kind of profile that can quickly turn into a burden, especially for a young international player trying to find his footing in college basketball. The Serbian guard was the only freshman to play under Jerome Tang last season and averaged 5.2 points, enough to show promise but not enough to justify the kind of expectations that can follow a player with his background.
Now Casey Alexander is signaling a different approach, one aimed less at spotlight and more at steady development. The new coach has noted Kostics improvement, but the staff also wants to temper the outside buzz that can build around Serbian players, giving him a fresh start and a little less pressure as Kansas State tries to let his game grow on its own terms. [Read more 🡒]
K-State Alumni Have A Chance To Send KU Fans Into Meltdown
A Kansas State alumni group is set for another round with a Kansas Jayhawks-based squad in The Basketball Tournament on Friday, this time back at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan. The matchup has already produced a split, with each side taking one game, and the return to a familiar K-State setting gives the Wildcats former players a chance to protect home turf in a series that has already shown how little separates the two sides.
The rosters bring plenty of recognizable names into the mix, with K-State leaning on a group that includes former standouts such as Jacob Pullen and Xavier Sneed, while the KU side features familiar faces like Frank Mason III and Zeke Mayo. It is the kind of alumni game that carries a little extra edge because of the rivalry history behind it, and Fridays meeting adds another layer with the winner taking control of a series that has stayed tight from the start. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas State Faces One Brutal Question As Another Reset Begins
Kansas State is starting over again, this time with Casey Alexander taking over as head coach and a roster that looks almost entirely new after a disappointing 2025-26 season. It is the kind of reset that can bring hope in a hurry, but it also comes with the usual warning label in college basketball: new coach, new players, new expectations, and very little time to figure out how it all fits together.
Alexander has already acknowledged how much work is ahead in building something from scratch, and he does at least have the benefit of a fresh start. Still, not everyone around the sport is buying into an immediate turnaround, with college basketball insider Jon Rothstein among those who sound skeptical about how quickly this group can improve. For Kansas State, the bigger question now is not whether the rebuild is real, but how long it will take before there is anything tangible to show for it. [Read more 🡒]