Travis Kelce Opened Up About Why it Didn’t ‘Feel Right’ to Play in Chiefs’ Finale Just for Stats

With a chance to make NFL history on the line, Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce elected to sit out Week 18’s matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers. Why? Kelce gave more color on the decision on this week’s episode of his podcast New Heights.

Andy Reid said after the game that Kelce told him he “didn’t like the way it felt” to force his way into the lineup just to finish off an eighth straight 1,000-yard season, the most for a tight end in league history. But Kelce also revealed a more humorous reason for sitting out in Week 18: avoiding Chargers star Derwin James.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce waves to fans before the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium.

Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

“Is it not obvious? You think I was trying to go out there and get f---ing powerbombed by Derwin James again?” Kelce said with a laugh.

Jokes aside, Kelce did provide more color on his decision to sit out rather than chasing a statistical milestone.

“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Kelce said. “Everyone in the building had been coming up to me all week telling me they wanted it for me and all the guys on the team were behind it. But every day I woke up I just stared at the ceiling like ‘man, this just doesn’t feel right to go out there and chase this.’”

That said, when asked by his brother Jason Kelce whether a $1.25 million incentive (like the one Chiefs star DL Chris Jones had in his contract) would have persuaded him to play, Travis Kelce did say that type of money would have changed his mind.

“I would’ve been out there drooling,” Kelce said.