Last February, the Kansas City Chiefs took a monster butt whooping at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Following the 31-9 loss that gave Tom Brady his seventh Super Bowl Championship, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce says he wants another crack at the Bruce Arians’ squad.
In a video conference call with ESPN’s NFL Live hosts Laura Rutledge and Marcus Spears on Tuesday afternoon, Kelce was asked if he watched the results of Super Bowl 55.
“Oh yeah,” Kelce quickly answered. “I’ll start by saying, man, I hope I see those guys in LA (for Super Bowl LVI) at the end of the season, but we’re just going to take it day by day, game by game, and see how the cards get dealt, man. You have to watch it. You have to watch the game. You have to be a man about it — figure out what you did wrong and how, if you get put in those situations again, how you can have success.”
Kelce finished Super Bowl 55 with 10 catches for 133 yards but never made it into the end zone.
“Just being a man about my losses, the times throughout the game I came up unsuccessful in my one-on-one matchups, you have to be able to learn from those situations, and that’s all we’re doing right now, is trying to sharpen our tools so this year we can hit the ground running and give ourselves a chance to go back to the Super Bowl, Kelce explained.”
The panel, who were well aware of Kansas City’s protection issues along the offensive line, asked Kelce how guys like Joe Thuney and Orlando Brown Jr. were acclimating to Andy Reid’s system and the culture inside the locker room.
“I think coach [Andy] Reid has done an unbelievable job of not only bringing in the right guys but setting the standard of how we work here in Kansas City,” said Kelce. “I’ll tell you what… walking in that huddle, it’s a little bit different this year. I love all the guys we played with over the past couple of years, but we got big, big dudes, man when you walk in this huddle. Big guys that are very accomplished at what they’ve done in years past… and it’s fun. It’s fun to have that new, refreshing atmosphere when you walk into the huddle because it gets you excited.”
To close out the interview, one of the hosts slipped a question to get Kelce’s thoughts on the situation around Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones and if he’d support the idea of him coming to Kansas City if Brett Veach was to strike a deal.
“I’ll tell you what, I’m intrigued,” said Kelce. “My eyes are open. I’m peeking at the headlines, seeing where he goes. Listen, that’s a game-changer. When you talk about guys that can make plays anywhere on the field, full route tree no matter where you put him, that’s a guy that changes the game and changes teams, so I’m interested to see where lands.”
Kelce and the Chiefs began the third phase of organized team activities on Tuesday morning. Kansas City is scheduled to pack up and head to training camp in St. Joseph, Missouri later this summer.
