Travis Kelce has had an illustrious career at tight end. He is considered one of the greatest to ever play the position. But did you know his career almost ended before it even got started, and not for the reasons you might think?
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Most die-hard NFL fans know about Kelce’s past. He nearly quit football in college after being suspended for testing positive for marijuana. His brother, Jason, helped him get clean and back on the field. He was eventually drafted by Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs in the third round of the 2013 Draft.
What some may not know is that Kelce entered the league with knee issues, something a former teammate recently discussed.
“He came in with some knee problems,” Kelce’s former QB, Alex Smith, shared on Real Ones.
“So, over the summer and into training camp, he was constantly battling knee issues. Bro, he doesn’t even play in the regular season,” Smith added.
Kelce did log a game played during his rookie campaign, but he appeared on just one snap. After that, the team placed him on injured reserve to recover from his knee issue. And then, Kelce went under the knife.
“We IR him. He has microfracture surgery on his knee fresh out of college. It was crazy,” Smith recalled. “There was some question of like, who knows if he even comes back the same ever?”
The good news for Kelce was that Reid was very excited about drafting him in 2013. The head coach believed Kelce was an excellent player who fell in the draft because of his college suspension. He eventually made the most of Travis’ talents.
To this day, Smith doesn’t believe that “knucklehead” Kelce would have been the same player without Reid.
“I don’t know if Travis becomes Travis if he doesn’t play for Andy Reid,” he stated. “The thing I love about Andy is he lets you be you. One of his favorite sayings is- let your personality show. So, he doesn’t try to put people into a box.”
The coaching strategy worked wonders with Kelce. He has made 11 straight Pro Bowls, won three Super Bowls, and earned a spot on the Hall of Fame All-2010s team. It has been an incredible career.
Still, it’s wild to think that Kelce’s career almost never got started because of a knee injury. Microfracture surgery is no joke. It requires drilling holes into the knee to stimulate cartilage growth below the bone. It’s remarkable that Travis was able to bounce back from it.
