Travis Kelce Battled ‘Illness’ Last Season, Chiefs GM Says

Travis Kelce Battled ‘Illness’ Last Season, Chiefs GM Says

Travis Kelce
Getty Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach is revealing that tight end Travis Kelce was apparently dealing with an “illness” last season.
Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs stayed pretty healthy during the 2024 season, as least when it came to injuries. It’s often said that the last teams standing in the playoffs are usually the teams with the fewest injuries, so that certainly helped the Chiefs get to the big game one more time.

But, it’s not just injuries that can get players down. Having sick players on the field can also hurt a team’s chance to thrive. Now, the Kansas City Chiefs’ general manager is revealing that Kelce was actually dealing with an “illness” last season, even leading up to the final game.

Kansas City Chiefs Star Travis Kelce’s ‘Illness’: Report
Chiefs general manager Brett Veach appeared on the NFL podcast “The Insiders” with NFL expert and analyst Tom Pelissero on Tuesday, February 25, and talked about the team’s Super Bowl run and more. He discussed the challenges the Chiefs faced leading up to the game, including tight end Kelce dealing with some kind of a sickness right before the finale

While Veach said that he wasn’t “making excuses” for the Chiefs falling to the Philadelphia Eagles, he revealed that Kelce was “battling a pretty big illness” before the big game, which happened on February 9 in New Orleans.

Veach also emphasized that Kelce’s illness probably didn’t factor into the final score, since the Eagles played so solid and beat the Chiefs, 40-22. Losing to the Eagles hurt, and Veach said, “We didn’t have the end to our season that we hoped for.”

Veach was also asked if Kelce would be back for the 2025 season, to which he said, “I think so. We anticipate Travis being back. We’re excited to have Travis back.”

As for Kelce coming back for one more season, Veach sounded very supportive, noting, “I think that Travis is excited to come back.”

Talking the Chiefs’ Loss to the Eagles
While there’s lots of excitement for next season with the Chiefs, especially since it appears Kelce will be back, that doesn’t erase the sting of losing the final game to the Eagles. Elaborating on the loss, Veach commented that the Chiefs “picked a bad day to have a bad day” but added that Kansas City would use the experience as “motivation to get better.” He also gave the oh-so true remark that, “You learn more from your losses than your wins.”

One major benefit to having Kelce back for another year is that he and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes have a special chemistry together. Veach said that Kelce and Mahomes have a unique relationship and that Kelce “finds a way to stay in shape and produce at a level that only he can.” There’s also the fact that having Swift in the stands really helps get the NFL and Chiefs brand more attention, which doesn’t hurt. Some fans even think Swift’s boost helped raise the salary cap for the NFL next season.

“He makes us better when he’s in our locker room and on our field, and we’re excited to get him back,” Veach said, also stating that the tight end has “accomplished everything that there is in this game.”