Travis Kelce’s poor Super Bowl performance may have fans rethinking who the best NFL tight end is.
San Francisco 49ers fans may have felt in their hearts that George Kittle is the best tight end in the NFL. However, most casual NFL fans would probably name Travis Kelce as the game’s best tight end.
That could be changing after the Super Bowl.
Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs were embarrassed by the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 59, losing 40-22. The future Hall of Famer had just four catches for 39 yards on six targets in the game. He was not alone as practically the entire Kansas City offense struggled to do anything except for the fourth quarter, which was essentially garbage time because Philadelphia was up by so much.
Kelce’s poor performance capped off an altogether down year for the four-time All-Pro. In 16 games, he had 97 receptions for 823 yards and three touchdown catches. He averaged 8.5 yards per reception, which was the lowest mark of his career and it was the second consecutive year in which Kelce failed to reach 1,000 receiving yards after he hit that mark in the previous seven seasons.
To be fair to Kelce, he is getting up there in age. He is 35 years old and it seems like there is a decent chance he could retire from the game this offseason.
As Kelce has declined, it has become very clear that Kittle is now the game’s premier tight end. In what was a down year for pretty much every player on San Francisco’s offense, Kittle was one of the few bright spots.
In 15 games, the eight-year veteran caught 78 passes for 1,106 yards and eight touchdowns. He was selected second-team All-Pro and continued on his trajectory towards the Hall of Fame. The stats do not capture the impact Kittle has as a blocker creating opportunities for his teammates nor do they capture his role as a leader on the team.
Even if Kelce plays for another year, it seems clear that Kittle is now the superior weapon on offense. Kittle’s dating life may not be as high profile as Kelce’s, but he has clearly done enough in his career for people to start rightfully recognizing him as the best tight end in the game.
