Travis Kelce hopes to see Buccaneers in Super Bowl LVI

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce joined ESPN “NFL Live” hosts Laura Rutledge and Marcus Spears via video conference call from the team’s facility on Tuesday afternoon. Kelce and the Chiefs began the 2021 edition of organized team activities on Tuesday morning.

With it being Kelce’s first time on ESPN since the team’s Super Bowl loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Spears asked the Chiefs’ ninth-year tight end if he had watched the game.

“Oh yeah,” Kelce quickly answered. “I’ll start off by saying, man, I hope I see those guys in LA (for Super Bowl LVI) at the end of the season, but we’re just going to take it day by day, game by game and see how the cards get dealt, man. You have to watch it. You have to watch the game. You have to be a man about it — figure out what you did wrong and how, if you get put in those situations again, how you can have success.”

Kelce was being at least somewhat modest, as he had 10 catches for 133 yards from 15 targets in the game.

“Just being a man about my losses, the times throughout the game I came up unsuccessful in my one-on-one matchups, you have to be able to learn from those situations, and that’s all we're doing right now, is trying to sharpen our tools so this year we can hit the ground running and give ourselves a chance to go back to the Super Bowl.”

The panel, well aware of the Chiefs’ protection problem in the Super Bowl, wanted to know how newcomers like Joe Thuney and Orlando Brown Jr. were acclimating. Kelce was forthcoming in saying that the energy surrounding the team already felt different on Day 1.

“I think coach (Andy) Reid has done an unbelievable job of not only bringing in the right guys but setting the standard of how we work here in Kansas City,” said Kelce. “I’ll tell you what — walking in that huddle, it’s a little bit different this year. I love all the guys that we played with over the past couple of years, but when you walk in this huddle, we got big, big dudes, man — big guys that are very accomplished at what they’ve done in years past... and it’s fun — it’s fun to have that new, refreshing atmosphere when you walk into the huddle because it gets you excited.”

Before Kelce closed the interview, he weighed in on the situation surrounding five-time All-Pro wide receiver Julio Jones — and it is safe to say he would be in support of Jones joining his team if it came to it.

“I’ll tell you what — I’m intrigued,” said Kelce. “My eyes are open. I’m peeking at the headlines, seeing where he goes. Listen, that’s a game-changer. When you talk about guys that can make plays anywhere on the field, full route tree no matter where you put him, that’s a guy that changes the game and changes teams, so I’m interested to see where lands.”

With the Atlanta Falcons being in the NFC, a team trading for Jones is likely to be in the AFC — on a team trying to prevent Kelce and the Chiefs from seeing “those guys” in LA.