Debates about the greatest players of all time are rarely conclusive, and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has been the subject of many such discussions in recent years. His uncanny consistency in production and elite awareness has given opposing defenses fits for the better part of a decade, and now with two Super Bowl rings to show for his effort, Kelce’s name is about to be thrown around in these discourses for many years to come.
But Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe doesn’t see this as much of a debate. Known for his popular debate show Skip and Shannon on FS1, Sharpe took to the Kelce brothers’ New Heights podcast to dispel any doubt that the Chiefs’ tight end stands in a league of his own in NFL history.
“The thing that I love most about him [Travis Kelce], you look at the regular season numbers and he is better in the postseason than he is in the regular season,” Sharpe explained. “What we call him is a big game. The bigger the moment, the bigger he plays.
“Who… [Do] you think Patrick [Mahomes is] going to throw the ball to? He [is] going to throw it to him. They know that. 80,000 people know that, Patrick Mahomes knows that, he knows he’s throwing the ball and the defense knows he’s going to throw the ball. And somehow he still finds a way to come down with the football.”
It isn’t just the intangible part of Kelce’s game that sets him apart either. Sharpe looked at the numbers and determined that Kelce is unmatched to this point in NFL history.
“You look at his numbers,” Sharpe said, “the 1,000-yard seasons, you look at his postseason resume, and you combine those two. . . I don’t know how you say [that he isn’t the best] because I don’t look at a guy and say ‘Well he has the most Super Bowl rings so therefore he’s the best’, no, it’s a team game.”
While some fans won’t take Sharpe’s endorsement seriously, perhaps no other former player in the contemporary media landscape has as much insight into the tight-end position as this Hall of Famer. Even talking about a player on the roster of a former rival, Sharpe couldn’t contain his enthusiasm, and his assessment of Kelce’s game and standing in the pantheon of tight ends all time stands for itself.
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