Getty Former Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez congratulated Travis Kelce on breaking his record.
Kansas City Chiefs superstar tight end Travis Kelce has broken another record, surpassing Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez as the all-time leader in receiving yards for KC.
“Congrats and well earned my friend! Keep it going 🙌🏽 @tkelce,” Gonzalez stated publicly on November 6, including a graphic of the top five receivers in Chiefs history with Kelce moving into the number one spot.
Congrats and well earned my friend! Keep it going 🙌🏽 @tkelce
Kelce did respond on November 7, voicing: “🤟🏻🤟🏻 Tony!! The greatest to ever lace em up!! Appreciate ya more than you know!”
Chiefs Drafted 2 of Best Tight Ends in NFL History
Gonzalez, drafted in the first round of 1997, and Kelce, drafted in the third round of 2013, will likely go down as the two greatest tight ends in NFL history when all is said and done.
If you look at the all-time tight end leaders in receiving yards, Gonzalez still ranks first with 15,127 yards. That puts him sixth all-time if you include wide receivers and running backs.
Kelce is quickly climbing that list at 10,941 receiving yards and counting (the same number as his Chiefs record).
In fact, the younger of the Kansas City superstars only needs 10 more receiving yards to enter the NFL’s top-40 all-time, passing wide receiver Joey Galloway. He’s also currently fourth for tight ends, behind Antonio Gates and Jason Witten.
Gates is the next target for Kelce to set his sights on at 11,841 receiving yards — which ranks 31st for all positions. Witten then finished between Gates and Gonzalez at 13,046.
As Kelce always says, he’s going to keep playing “until the wheels fall off.” Expect him to break several more records in the process, as the one-of-a-kind tight end continues to put up huge numbers year after year.
Chiefs’ Lack of WRs Could Slow Travis Kelce’s Record-Smashing Pace
There is one factor that could work against Kelce as he homes in on Gates, Witten and Gonzalez — more attention.
With the Chiefs WR corps struggling to get going, Kelce has seen more double-teams in recent weeks. In Week 9, that strategy was executed brilliantly by the Miami Dolphins.
Patrick Mahomes II only targeted Kelce four times in Germany, his lowest target share of the season. Typically, the dynamic pass-catcher is up around nine or even 10-plus targets per game.
That defensive gameplan by Miami led to a season-low 14 receiving yards for Kelce off a measly three catches.
In general, Kelce has slowed down slightly in 2023. It could be because of age and nagging injury, of course, but it’s more likely that opposing defenses have prioritized taking Mahomes’ favorite target out of the game — best they can.
Now, that doesn’t always work. Kelce logged back-to-back 100-yard receiving totals against the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers in Week 6 and 7, but those are his only two 100-yard outings of the year.
The Broncos even got wise to their mistake during their second matchup with Kansas City, holding Kelce to just 58 receiving yards despite nine targets.
Including the playoffs, Kelce had six 2022 performances where he cracked 100 receiving yards, with another three totals within the 90-100 range. He’ll need to pick up the pace if he wants to match that level of production in 2023.
Having said all of that, Kelce is still outperforming most tight ends and is trending towards yet another 1,000-yard campaign. If he reaches quadruple digits once again, it will mark the eighth straight season that he has done so.
For reference, Gonzalez only had four 1,000-yard campaigns for his entire career.