The legacy of Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce will eventually see him debated as the greatest tight end of all time. He has impacted the Chiefs with more than just his field production; he has also impacted them with his locker-room leadership.
A member of the Chiefs locker room in recent years was tight end Jody Fortson, who emerged as a trusted red zone option when healthy. Fortson signed with the Miami Dolphins at the start of free agency last week and addressed the local media, sharing his admiration for former teammate Travis Kelce.
“Travis Kelce is my favorite teammate of all time. On any level, Pop Warner, High School, or College, Travis is my favorite teammate,” said Fortson. “Not only because he took his time trying to teach me the role of being the tight end, but because of how a great person is he didn’t even have to. “
Fortson signed with Miami after five seasons in Kansas City, spending time between the active roster practice squad and significant time on injured reserve, missing the entire 2023 season.
“He just showed unconditional love and knowledge for the game,” Fortson explained. “Being in a room and Kelce, it probably not even probably it sent me four light years of where I would have been had I not had him, arguably having the greatest of all-time in that room, being able to learn and see how he’s attacking different routes and why he views coverage like this and why he sees well, how he’s able to find the holes and other stuff like you’re not able to get that unless you’re with somebody that knows that.”
Kelce takes great pride in being a team leader and was praised by players and coaches for his motivating speech during Super Bowl LVIII.
“So, being in a room with Kelce these last few years has been an extraordinary blessing to my game,” Fortson said. “Taking patience from the game like I used to be rushing my routes and stuff, but like, even going to Kelce’s house and like, ‘hey, man, you can slow it down’.
“Like every route doesn’t have to be 100 miles an hour, you can kind of play with the tempo. You can maneuver it a little bit like there’s a lot of different nuances of the game that I learned from him.”
Fortson signed last week and will have a chance to compete for more playing time in 2024 with the Dolphins.