10 Biggest Questions: Can the Chiefs get Travis Kelce to the finish line?

Heading into the Kansas City Chiefs' season, I'm continuing my "10 Biggest Questions" series. In the final installment, let's think about how the Chiefs can manage their shoo-in Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce in 2024.

With modern medicine, recovery and training, athletes in all sports can have much longer careers. Long-tenured superstars like Tom Brady, LeBron James and Serena Williams are among the best-known of many others who can now take advantage of modern training and techniques to extend their playing days.

Still, long careers aren't common in professional football — a violent, physically punishing sport. Despite modern advances, the human body can only withstand a certain amount of contact and punishment.

There are, however, exceptions. Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce is one of the best examples of added longevity in any sport. Now entering his age-35 season, he is still identified by most observers as the NFL's best tight end — a title to which he has laid claim for almost a decade.

Here are some other notable performances by 21st-century tight ends in their age-34 seasons.

Player Tgts Rec Yds Yds/Gm TD Travis Kelce(2023) 121 93 984 65.6 5 Antonio Gates(2014) 98 69 821 51.3 12 Shannon Sharpe(2002) 88 61 686 52.8 3 Jason Witten(2016) 95 69 673 42.1 3 Tony Gonzalez(2010) 108 70 656 41.0 6 Greg Olsen(2019) 82 52 597 42.6 2 Jimmy Graham(2020) 76 50 456 28.5 8

In 2023, Kelce put up unprecedented stats for his age. Among other 34-year-old tight ends with 30 targets since 1992 (when targets were first tallied by the league), Kelce ranked first in targets (121), receptions (93), yards (984), catch percentage (76.9) and first downs (50). Only Antonio Gates had more touchdowns (and a higher success rate) as a 34-year-old.

So Kelce continues to lap the field in most categories for someone his age. What he's now doing should be considered an all-time NFL outlier.

While that deserves recognition, 2023 was nonetheless a down season for the 11-year veteran. As you might expect, Kelce just wasn't as good as he had been in prior seasons, posting his lowest receiving yards since 2015 (984) and yards per game since 2017 (65.6). His yards per reception (10.2) was down 13% from his previous career low of 12.2 (2021 and 2022).

Kelce also posted career lows in 1st downs generated (50), yards per target (8.1), yards before catch (515), yards before catch per reception (5.5), yards after catch per reception (5.0), average depth per target (6.7) and broken tackles (4). Kelce's yards after catch (410) were the second-lowest of his career (2019).

But let's not forget that in the playoffs, Kelce returned to his peak self, accumulating 32 catches, 355 yards and three touchdowns on 37 targets over four playoff games. If he had played that well over a 17-game regular season, he would have posted career highs in catches (136), yards (1,509) and touchdowns (13).

Of course, in his mid-30s, we shouldn't expect Kelce to be posting career numbers every season. But there's no doubt that he's still a dominant postseason performer. On the biggest stage, his combination of football intelligence, route-running prowess (and chemistry with quarterback Patrick Mahomes) still befuddles defenses.

Kelce will be the first to admit he is not the same athlete he once was. His snaps do need to be limited more than they used to be. But when everything is on the line, he can still flash that all-time athleticism.

If Kansas City could just fast-forward to the playoffs every season, Kelce could easily play many more years — and continue to be a dominant player. But unfortunately, this is not how football works. To reach the playoffs, teams must do well over the entire season — and the Chiefs rely on Kelce too much to put him on ice until January.

So Kansas City is trying to do the next best thing. In 2023, Kelce was on the field for fewer offensive snaps than any season since 2014.

And when he was out there, he was the Sun of the Chiefs' offensive solar system; every passing concept and formation was still designed around Kelce's feel for space, masterful recognition of coverages and chemistry with Mahomes. The Chiefs continued to give the tight end a ton of latitude to maximize the space he uses.

Since he came into the league, every Kansas City offense has been designed around Kelce's abilities. But since his sill at separating from man coverage — especially against cornerbacks — has begun to wane, he is doing fewer things on the back side of formations. More often, he goes into motion (or lines up in the slot) to maximize his current capabilities.

But to reduce Kelce's load even further, the offense will require more adjustment. Route concepts will have to change. Targets will have to be funneled elsewhere. There would have to be a Kelce offense and a non-Kelce offense — and the team would have to toggle between them.

So what is the Chiefs's plan? Are they expecting Kelce to carry the same workload — or will we see more game and snap management? Will Kelce's on-field role be reduced, with - fewer targets and catches? If it's not the superstar tight end, which receiver will the offense filter through? What will the target distribution look like?

There's no doubt: even at 35, Kelce can still be a dominant player; he just can't do it as often. As he ages, balancing Kelce's health and juice — while also having an efficient offense — will be one of the Chiefs' biggest challenges; they must be able to manage his use so that he can peak at the right time.

In the meantime, we can hope the team will begin to shift the offensive load onto the young players who now meet in the wide receiver room.