Reid, Kelce Recall Timeless Tale of Tight End’s Draft Experience

Travis Kelce has at least six years before he enters the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but he does have a timeless story that’s instantly fit for a museum. It’s the story of how he learned the Kansas City Chiefs were selecting him at the top of the third round in the 2013 draft.

Before last year’s draft, both Kelce and Andy Reid shared their sides of that tale on the New Heights podcast. The story begins on Nov. 10, 2012, when Reid, at the time, in his final season as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, saw Kelce’s Cincinnati Bearcats play at Lincoln Financial Field.

“This guy, I saw him play against Temple,” Reid said, remembering the 34-10 Cincinnati win in which Kelce had four catches for 37 yards. “And my son kept telling me, ‘This tight end is unbelievable. (Jason) Kelce’s brother is like incredible, and he’s 265 pounds. He’s a beast.’ Then when I get him, he’s like 240, but that’s OK.

“Game’s over. They just destroyed Temple. I come over to the locker room. He comes walking over, just bee-boppin, just giving me the business like we’re long, lost friends. And deep down, I’m going, ‘If I get my hands on that son of a buck, I am gonna rip his heart out.’ But I played along with it. Cocky, cocky, damn he was cocky.”

He was humble five months later, when Kelce plummeted into the third round after believing he was going much earlier.

“I thought I was going to be the first tight end taken off the board,” Kelce said last year. "Ended up being the fifth. The Jets were sold on me. I had a great interview with Rex Ryan.”

The New York head coach told Kelce the Jets would select him with their second-round choice (39 overall), but only if West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith was not available. Smith went to the Jets.

The Bengals had already selected Tyler Eifert in the first round (21st overall). Kelce had hopes of joining his brother with the Eagles, but Philadelphia chose Zach Ertz at the top of the second round (35). And after Smith went at 39, Kelce agonized after Dallas took Gavin Escobar (47) and San Francisco drafted Vance McDonald (55).

Then, Kelce’s phone rang with an area code from Missouri, which in 2013 was home to two NFL teams, the Chiefs with Reid, their newly hired head coach, and the Rams.

“And Missouri is, at the time, Kansas City, St. Louis,” Kelce recalled. “And Jeff Fisher was in St. Louis, and it was meme central over there for Jeff Fisher. He was getting tore up left and right. And in my head, I see the Missouri number and I’m just like, ‘(expletive).’

“I answer it and it’s Andy Reid! ‘Hey, Coach Reid! How you doing?’ He asked me, straight to the point, ‘Are you going to (expletive) this up, man?’ And I was like, ‘Huh? No, I’m not. I’m going to be the best tight end you’ve ever coached.’ And he said, ‘Alright, hand the phone to your brother.’”

Dumbfounded, the tight end put the phone in the hands of his brother, Reid’s center the previous two seasons in Philadelphia.

“He asked me,” Jason Kelce remembered, “‘If I draft your brother right now, is he going to screw this up?’ I said, ‘No sir!’”

This pick worked out, right @tkelce? 🤝 pic.twitter.com/fml13GAov6
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) April 16, 2025

Reid turned in the card to draft Kelce with the 65th overall selection. Five Super Bowls later, Kelce is the NFL’s all-time leader with 178 career postseason receptions.

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