You can’t search the name Travis Kelce without the name Taylor Swift being attached.
The relationship has been a big focus of the 2023 NFL season. While some football fans may not care so much about the details of the player’s relationship, they do care about his performance on the team, which Swift is having an effect on.
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end, Kelce, and singer, Swift, were photographed holding hands in public for the first time in October. However, the romance has been developing since Kelce attended the singer’s Eras Tour show in Kansas City in July.
Some fans are saying Swift has brought fame for Kelce. He is a big name in the NFL, but Swift has brought him new fans through the Swifties. While he had his own career before Swift came along, she is having more of an effect on his season than expected. Kelce’s football season stats have now become two eras: games with Swift and games without Swift.
Since the development of their relationship, Swift has attended four Chiefs games. In those games, Kelce has had two touchdowns and totaled 34 catches for 432 yards. In contrast, in the four games where Swift was not in attendance, Kelce also had two touchdowns but only totaled 23 catches for 165 yards.
Looking at averages with Swift in attendance, Kelce averages 108 yards, which is a substantial difference from the 41.3 yards he averages without Swift there.
There may have been other factors in the games where Swift wasn’t in attendance that affected Kelce’s performance, such as his knee injury at the beginning of the season or the team’s quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, fighting a flu.
Despite these other factors, it’s evident that Swift brings a bit of good luck with her when she enters the stadium. Either that or Kelce’s performance is better with Swift in attendance because he wants to show off for his girl.
There’s no doubt that Kelce is good at what he does. His performance remains impressive even without Swift. Last season, Kelce reached a career-high of 110 catches for 1,338 yards and 12 touchdowns for the Chiefs. He was also ranked in the top 10 tight ends in the 2022 NFL season. This season happened before the romance began to develop, so Kelce’s stats prove that while having his girlfriend’s support at the games is nice, it’s not what determines his performance.
Kelce continues to make impressive plays in games and proves he is the best tight in NFL history. Kelce holds the record for most consecutive and total 1,000-yard receiving seasons by a tight end and has surpassed former Patriots and Buccaneers tight end, Rob Gronkowski, for most receiving yards in a career by a tight end.
The Chiefs 2023 NFL season (Taylor’s Version) has been a good one so far with their current record being 7-2. Let’s see if the Chiefs can shake it off when Swift isn’t there watching.
