Football tight ends function to protect their quarterback in the middle of NFL plays, and few do it better than Travis Kelce.
Kelce has been the Kansas City Chiefs’ top tight end since 2013, four years before Patrick Mahomes signed with the Missouri team as a quarterback.
“Obviously, I get here at the beginning of the year [and] I’m still a rookie, so I’m kind of going through the motions and try to figure out the best way to fit in and I think the first time I thought me and Travis were gonna be connected … was [after] the fourth preseason game,” Mahomes recalled on Kelce’s“New Heights” podcast in December 2022, noting Kelce happened to be partying at the “same spot” as Mahomes and the other rookies, who invited the crew to join him.
Mahomes ended up being late to the Chiefs’ “walk-through” — just like Kelce. “I was like, ‘Dope, I’m not alone! Let’s go, man,’” Kelce quipped. “At that point, I knew we were teammates.”
Mahomes and Kelce’s bond also flourished off the NFL field — and extended to their respective romances. Mahomes and his wife, Brittany Matthews, even spent time with Kelce’s love interest Taylor Swift in early October 2023.
“The fact that Patrick and Travis are best friends makes things even better,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly of Swift and Matthews’ game day bond. “They’re having a blast and love cheering on their men together.”
Scroll down for Mahomes and Kelce’s sweetest friendship moments through the years:
The two Chiefs teammates shook hands during the October 8 game against the Minnesota Vikings.
Weeks earlier, Kelce subtly revealed that he invited Swift to watch their home game against the Chicago Bears. After Mahomes’ initial disbelief, he realized his buddy was hungry for a touchdown.
“I knew I had to get it to Trav,” the QB told Erin Andrews after the September game. “He does his own thing and just makes up a route and I throw it to him. I think he wanted to get in the end zone as much as all the Swifties wanted him to.”
Kelce and Mahomes were suited and booted at the annual ESPYs.
Mahomes and Matthews chronicled their home life during the 2022 season in Netflix’s Quarterback docuseries. Kelce, for his part, turned up to the red carpet premiere to celebrate his pal.
Mahomes and Kelce teamed up on the golf fairway at Capital One’s The Match VIII in Las Vegas.
The duo posed with their two Super Bowl rings during the official Super Bowl LVII Ring Ceremony.
They presented President Joe Biden with his own custom Chiefs jersey during a visit to the White House.
Credit: Jay Biggerstaff/Getty Images
