Travis Kelce, in relative terms, isn’t a young player.
Although Travis Kelce is renowned for being one of the NFL’s premier tight ends, he gained another moniker after sustaining an ankle injury during Sunday’s game: “Grandpa.”
In the late first half of the Kansas City Chiefs’ matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, Kelce caught a pass from quarterback Patrick Mahomes and began running with no one in his path. However, he slipped on the turf and tweaked his right ankle, leading to an early visit to the locker room for X-rays. He returned for the second half, with his ankle heavily taped, and managed to score a touchdown.
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Expressing his frustration to his brother, Jason, on their podcast “New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce Presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment,” the 34-year-old Kelce remarked, “I’m just out here being old as f— and just offing myself”
He further stated, “I just feel like a f—ing jamoke, a grandpa, every single time I go out there and just injure myself.”
To delve deeper into the incident, Travis went on to describe the specifics of his non-contact injury.
“It rolled, I rolled my ankle,” Travis said. “It was like [in] basketball … you’re coming down off a rebound you just roll your ankle. It was unfortunate, you watch it in slow motion, my ankle kinda slips for a couple inches and then it finally grabs on the turf and that’s been the knock is that when you do slip you don’t just slip right through the grass.”
Following an X-ray examination at halftime, Travis received reassuring news that he was cleared to resume playing.
Regardless of the condition of the turf, Travis, who celebrated his 34th birthday last week, recognized the inevitable reality of his future in the league. He candidly noted that he’s not growing any younger in a physically demanding sport.
“I kinda just got lackadaisical trying to let … what I think is an athletic move later on in my career just isn’t an athletic move,” he said. “I gotta play with a base, I gotta play with my feet underneath me, and the rest of the game I did that, you didn’t see me slip around or injure myself at all.”
Kelce will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the greatest tight ends in the history of the game. It’s high time we cherish his remarkable career, as athletes of his caliber are a rare occurrence.
