With his team’s first playoff game looming this weekend, Travis Kelce seems calm and confident, and his life off the field might have something to do with that. During an appearance on the Stephen A. Smith Show on Wednesday (Jan. 15), the Kansas City Chiefs tight end was asked how things are in his personal life, since, as the host put it, “you livin’ a little bit better than most.”
“I’m enjoying all aspects of life, that’s for damn sure, man,” Kelce, 35, laughed, giving Smith the answer he was subtly digging around for about the status of the baller’s high-profile relationship with Taylor Swift. “Me and Taylor are happy and I couldn’t be happier to have that confidence and that comfort off the field and all the support I could ever ask for stadium.”
Veteran sports talker Smith then made a confession: he’d never listened to Swift’s music before, but he went to one of the Eras Tour shows and said it was “the greatest concert” he’s ever been to in his life. “It’s off the chain,” Kelce confirmed of the record-setting outing that wrapped up on Dec. 8 in Vancouver.
Smith said his daughters “hoodwinked” him into taking 10 of their friends to a show at $2,000 a ticket (a price Kelce diplomatically noted was the “re-sale” value of the tickets), with the host joking, “I ain’t got your money, Travis! I damn sure ain’t got her money! I said, ‘this better be worth it!’ And I gotta confess, it was so damn good I went back twice.”
He then got serious again, asking if all the hoopla and attention to the couple’s now year-and-a-half long romance has “added” to Kelce’s football talents, comparing it to a struggling prize fighter used to grinding who suddenly hits the “jackpot with everything that you’re doing.”
“I think personally, that’s the beauty of being in a very strong relationship is that you get that support to be able to come in and focus on your craft,” Kelce said. “Focus on being the best version of you. That’s why I wanted to be at the concerts supporting her, being there for her and making sure she feels comfortable and supported in everything she’s doing in life.”
Kelce said he’s as focused as he’s ever been on his job, mostly because he doesn’t have to worry about things off the field. But when Smith recalled that some commenters said Kelce did not seem to be in his best shape at the beginning of the season, not necessarily blaming Swift for being a distraction, but speculating that all the travel Travis was doing to support Swift on her tour was “taking away” from his training, the 10-time Pro Bowler had a very simple answer.
“You have to be true to yourself,” he said of the criticism. “People are saying things [and] you’ve got to be able to reflect and look at yourself and see, ‘Why are they saying these things?’ I was still playing at a high level knowing all that. We were winning football games, which is all I ever care about and, on top of that, this building knew how hard I worked and how much focus I have on football throughout the year.”
All that said, the three-time Super Bowl-winner is gearing up to get back on the field and focus on his day job. So when Smith asked if the team is feeling confident going into their first playoff game this weekend against the Texans on Saturday — after earning a bye last week due to their divisional top spot — Kelce sounded positive about their path to a potentially unprecedented Super Bowl three-peat.
“Setting ourselves up with the No. 1 seed, having everybody have to come through Arrowhead [Stadium]… I think this year it was such a different team, such a different feel,” Kelce said. “We were barely winning football game at the end of the game, so there is always that feeling of ‘we gotta be better, we gotta be better, we gotta be better.’ And right now we’re playing our best football, man, and I’m definitely feeling confident.”
The Chiefs play the Texans at 4:30 on Saturday.
Check out Kelce’s interview with Smith below.
