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What felt like a personal shot against future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce caught the attention of Chiefs Kingdom on January 31.
Former WFAN NYC radio show host and current Fox Sports One television host Craig Carton of The Carton Show ranked his top 10 players that will be suiting up in the 2024 Super Bowl — combining the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers’ rosters into one pool of athletes. Inexplicably, the list did not include Kelce, defensive lineman Chris Jones and cornerback L’Jarius Sneed among other KC stars.
The Chiefs did get the No. 1 spot on the board, with quarterback Patrick Mahomes II, but after that Carton placed eight Niners players from No. 2 through No. 9 in the Super Bowl ranking.
They were quarterback Brock Purdy, running back Christian McCaffrey, wide receivers Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk, left tackle Trent Williams, tight end George Kittle, defensive end Nick Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner in that order. Then, finally, kicker Harrison Butker rounded things out for Kansas City.
Needless to say, Chiefs fans took offense to this post.
Chiefs Kingdom Backs Travis Kelce, Chris Jones & L’Jarius Sneed in Super Bowl Player Ranking
Many KC supporters questioned Carton’s list after it began circulating on social media.
“I guess Chris jones, Travis Kelce, Sneed, etc. stopped existing? Love it, 😏” one popular quoted comment read.
Another stated: “There is no way you put Purdy over McCaffrey and then didn’t even include the greatest tight end of all time Travis Kelce. Mahomes number 1 is the only correct rating on the whole list.”
“This might be the worst list I have ever seen in the history of list made, 😂” a third KC fan laughed.
Eventually, the unpopular post made it all the way to A-to-Z Sports KC reporter Charles Goldman, who joked: “I’m just left wondering. . . What exactly did Travis Kelce do to this man?”
Of course, some Chiefs fans decided to use this as motivation for the big game. One X user tagged Kelce, Jones and Sneed with the caption: “For fuel if you need it.”
“Chiefs Bulletin Board prepper,” another noted, including a GIF that requested — “MORE! SHOW ME MORE!”
Finally, one fan simply voiced, “talk soon 🤝,” for Chiefs Kingdom quite ominously.
Chiefs Loving Underdog Narrative vs. 49ers
Whether Carton was trolling Kansas City with his ranking, or actually serious — unlikely — he seemed to get the fanbase’s attention. You only wonder if this type of stuff reaches the locker room.
Either way, the Chiefs appear to relish being the underdog versus the 49ers. Mahomes and Kelce talked about wanting the AFC Championship win over the Baltimore Ravens more than ever because they felt as though they were being overlooked.
Now, the same might be happening in the Super Bowl.
KC enters the championship game with a current spread of +2.0 on several major sportsbooks on February 1 (per Quarter 4). FanDuel Sportsbook’s line has even moved as far as -2.5 in favor of the challengers from San Francisco.
The defending champs appear to love that. After all, how often is a team still the underdog after threatening to win back-to-back Lombardi trophies?
“The last time we tried to go back-to-back, we won like — I think we were like 14-1 going into the last week [and] got to rest. Lost that game and kind of rolled through the playoffs,” Mahomes told reporters on February 1, expressing that the Chiefs just expected to win again in the Super Bowl until Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicked their butts — in the words of the QB.
“This year, it’s been completely opposite,” he continued. “It’s been a struggle throughout the season. We’ve had to continue to get better and better, and that’s what I’ve always preached. But I think some of the losses kind of forced us [to get] better.”
“Now, it’s not being satisfied with just getting there,” Mahomes concluded. “This is a great football team that we’re going against. It’s going to take our best football.”
As you’d expect, the reigning NFL MVP made it very clear that this is strictly a “business trip” for the Chiefs in Las Vegas.
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