Kansas City Chiefs TE Travis Kelce is coming to terms with losing some of his friends on the team during the course of the 2023 NFL free agency period.
Speaking with his brother, Jason Kelce, on their “New Heights Show” podcast this past week, the two recapped some recent moves in free agency. Travis spoke about the Chiefs losing former 2019 second-round draft pick Mecole Hardman, who signed with the New York Jets in free agency.
“I know the Chiefs have been making some moves and we lost a good guy,” Travis Kelce said. “We lost a good guy, man. We lost one of the good guys. Mecole Hardman. My brother went over to the New York Jets. Mecole ‘The Jet’ Hardman is now playing for the Jets. He is who he plays for. One of the fastest guys in the league, my dog Mecole, man. It hurts to lose the good guys. I miss him already.”
Travis said he hadn’t asked Hardman about the Aaron Rodgers situation and whether it played a role in his free agency decision. Perhaps we’ll hear about that in a future episode.
In addition to mourning Hardman’s departure, Travis also took a moment to mourn the “Legion of Zoom” wide receiver room comprised of Hardman, Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins and Demarcus Robinson.
“You tweeted out over the weekend that the ‘Legion of Zoom’ is no more,” Jason Kelce said.
“It is no more,” Travis responded. “I’m the only zoom left.”
“You weren’t part of the zoom, Trav,” Jason joked.
“Well, you win some, you lose some,” Travis said with a big sigh.
During last week’s episode, Travis also took a moment to mourn the loss of another important teammate as LT Orlando Brown Jr. signed with the Cincinnati Bengals. This one hurt Kelce in particular because of the destination.
“It hurts. It hurts my soul, man. Hurts my soul. It’s like watching your best friend just turn evil on you,” Travis Kelce said. “It’s tough man. Obviously, I mean, the past like two years we’ve struggled beating the Bengals. So, there’s been a lot of like build up in emotion of like, I would say, not necessarily hate but just like dislike towards the Bengals because they keep beating us, and they keep talking about it every time they do. So, it’s like, to see him go to the dark side man, it’s an awkward feeling. Obviously, I hope that he has an absolute Hall of Fame career. You know what I mean? I wish nothing but the best for (Orlando Brown). He was an unbelievable leader. An unbelievable teammate on and off the field. We’ve got countless memories that I’ll cherish.”
Kelce is the longest-tenured player on the team, so he’s seen plenty of players come and go. It might lessen the blow slightly, but it can’t be easy seeing the brothers you’ve won a Super Bowl alongside leave for another team.
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