Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce admitted that his tendency to play more snaps than his teammate may be starting to take a toll on his body.
Kelce, who turns 35 in October, has had an incredibly busy offseason between filming TV shows and following his girlfriend, pop star Taylor Swift, around the world.
So at Saturday’s training camp at Missouri Western State University, Kelce confessed that rest is becoming more of a priority for him.
“Last year was pretty demanding on my body,” Kelce said after practice.
‘I’ve had more snaps than a lot of guys, if not all, in the NFL over the last five or six years, and I’m very proud of that, but I know it’s taken a toll on my body.
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce admitted the 2023 season was “pretty taxing” on his body
Kelce believes he has logged more snaps than most players over the past five or six seasons.
“It’s just about making sure my body gets rest and has the ability to train harder and be able to sustain a full season of 17 to 20 games.”
Kansas City appears to be stocking up on ammunition at tight end, signing veteran free agent Irv Smith in the offseason and also drafting Jared Wiley from TCU in the offseason. They also have Noah Gray on the roster, who was fourth on the Chiefs in receptions last season.
Despite this, there have been no signs that the Chiefs will reduce Kelce’s role.
With roughly a week of training camp back and forth, Kelce hasn’t had a single day of rest and hasn’t indicated he plans to change that.
“This is my sanctuary,” Kelce said. “St. Joe’s, senior year. That means I’ve spent almost a whole year of my life here in the dorms.”
“Everyone can say it’s pretty tiring, but I enjoy it. There’s something about this place that prepares you every year and I’m not going to lie, I was pretty excited when the clock started ticking down to come here and get this going.
“This is where it all starts. You could say it starts in the offseason, and yeah, you want to set that foundation in the offseason of leadership and mindset and things like that.
But that said, Kelce doesn’t appear to be showing any signs of easing up on his workload.
“But at the end of the day, this is where you really find out what the team is made of, how you sharpen the iron, how your guys practice your practice habits, attention to detail, and nobody does that better than Coach (Andy) Reid.”
Kelce added that he works with several personal trainers, saying, “I have guys all over the place.”
But that aside, he says he hasn’t changed much in his offseason routine since the beginning of his NFL career.
“Every season you find ways to improve what’s working for you, (eliminate) what’s not, and you just want to make it better every year to keep finding ways to climb that ladder of success,” Kelce said.
“I’d say I’m doing some things differently, but nothing in the grand scheme of things. I’m just working hard.”