Getty Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce in 2021.
In case you missed it, Kansas City Chiefs superstar Travis Kelce dropped the debut episode of his first official podcast — “New Heights” — which features his older brother Jason Kelce as well, the long-time Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro center.
Let me tell you, episode one did not disappoint. The Kelce brothers decided to tackle their inaugural hour-long spot by fielding 12 questions from fans and there were plenty of interesting responses from Travis and Jason.
From a Chiefs’ perspective though, none stood out more than Travis Kelce’s favorite quarterback move of the 2022 offseason — considering his answer.
Travis Kelce Praises Russell Wilson Broncos Move
Knowing Travis Kelce, this isn’t a complete surprise but it does speak volumes about his mentality as the ultimate competitor. Question No. 7 (32-minute mark) asked each brother to reveal their favorite QB move of the offseason and after Jason said Matt Ryan to Indy, Travis took over as the conductor of the Russell Wilson hype train.
“Russell Wilson to the [Denver] Broncos, are you kidding me?” Travis hyped. “He’s gonna come into the division? I’m not gonna lie, he was already in a tough division but to be able to see what was going on already in the division and just be willing to come in with three other great quarterbacks, explosive offenses, and some pretty solid defenses [took some guts].”
Jason and Travis even went one step further in complimenting one of the Chiefs’ oldest rivals.
“[Wilson] might have the best defense out of [the entire AFC West],” Travis admitted, as his older brother concurred calling Denver “stacked” on the defensive side. “I respect a lot of their DBs for sure, smart guys,” Travis added as the segment ended.
Aside from the whole competitive juices aspect that we mentioned above, these comments also speak to how much the game has changed. Years ago, bitter rivals wanted to pulverize each other on the gridiron and that’s not to say the Kelce brothers don’t want to win, but the comradery is more apparent in the modern age — especially inside the division.
The Chiefs have not lost the AFC West since 2015, a year they went 11-5. Ironically, it was the Broncos who outlasted them that season, as well as the rest of the league.
Denver won the Super Bowl with Peyton Manning that winter and has been rebuilding ever since. Their playoff drought has now reached six years and their new head coach, Nathaniel Hackett, marks the third HC change after Gary Kubiak’s departure.
Wilson, who just signed a massive five-year extension with the Broncos, aims to correct all of that.
Why Chiefs Fans Should Be Excited for 2022?
“[Patrick Mahomes] just keeps getting better man,” Travis Kelce voiced during a segment centered around why each fanbase should be excited for their team in 2022 (27-minute mark).
“I think we’re about to see this year exactly how good Tyreek [Hill] is [in Miami] and how good this [KC] offense can be without a huge playmaker like that,” Travis began, discounting himself as that major piece of star power.
“There is no other ‘Cheetah,’ I’m not going to sit here and blow smoke and act like there is,” he continued, “but we got some great players man, we got some unbelievable wide receivers in JuJu [Smith-Schuster], MVS [Marquez Valdes-Scantling], still got Mecole Hardman who can fly — he’s a jet engine with the ball.”
“It’s exciting times right now because now is the new,” Travis concluded. “You get to be able to go out there and show everybody what you’ve been working on all offseason and just tee off on guys.”
What better way to lead into Week 1 than that? “Tee time” is set for 3:25 p.m. CST tomorrow, on September 11.