Travis Kelce Adds To Personal Record Book In Chiefs' Loss

For Kansas City Chiefs' tight end Travis Kelce, it was a pedestrian line: four scoreless catches for 44 yards in the Chiefs' 20-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night.

For the keepers of the NFL's record books, it meant getting out an eraser.

Kelce entered the contest with 1,100 catches, the seventh-most of all-time. When he hauled in a 19-yard pass from quarterback Patrick Mahomes on a 3rd-and-17 play with 13:11 remaining in the game, Kelce officially vaulted into fifth place all-time, passing Hall of Famers Cris Carter (1,101 catches) and Marvin Harrison (1,102).

He would add one more catch in the game to finish the contest with 1,104 for his sterling career.

Additionally, his 44 yards gained gave him 15,423 combined regular-season and playoff receiving yards, good enough to move past another Hall of Famer, Tony Gonzalez, into first place for combined receiving yards by tight ends with 15,423, with Gonzalez having 15,413.

Kelce also ranks second to Gonzalez in regular-season receiving yards for tight ends (and 19th overall) with 13,345 yards to Gonzalez's 15,127.

Among active players, Kelce is first in receptions - 20 ahead of the Indianapolis Colts' Keenan Allen (1,084) - and second in receiving yards with 13,345, behind 17th-place Mike Evans of the San Francisco 49ers, who has 13,472 receiving yards.

At his career rate of 5.6 catches per game, it would take Kelce approximately 22 games to catch Jason Witten (1,229 catches) for fourth-most all-time and second-most among tight ends. If Kelce chooses to return for the 2027 season, and with good health, a case could be made that he could catch and surpass Witten around Thanksgiving next year.

With 1,325 regular-season catches, which place him third all-time and first among tight ends, it would appear that Gonzalez would be out of Kelce's reach, unless he wants to extend his career until at least mid-November 2028, though a comfy retirement with maybe some time spent in a broadcast booth would seem more likely at this time.

In the here and now, Kelce - along with most of the Chiefs' passing offense - has struggled over the past month. After a 9-catch, 101-yard, 1-touchdown gem in Week 2's overtime defeat of the Colts, Kelce has just 12 catches on 19 targets for 171 yards and one TD combined in the Chiefs' last four games.

Mahomes has also averaged just more than 222 passing yards per game in those four contests, capped by Sunday night's 163-yard clunker in Seattle

That has led to cries that the Chiefs need to be active in pursuing a receiver before the upcoming trade deadline on Nov. 10, but of more immediate concern is a trip on Nov. 1 to face the Denver Broncos, who posted a 30-16 defeat of the Arizona Cardinals Sunday to move to 5-2, just a half-game behind 5-1 Kansas City in the AFC West standings.