Travis Kelce’s production has plummeted to a career-low 8.4 yards per catch

For most of Travis Kelce’s career, the Chiefs have known that if they got him the ball, he was good for about 12 or 13 yards: From Kelce’s first season as the Chiefs’ starting tight end in 2014 through 2022, Kelce averaged somewhere between 12.2 and 13.5 yards per catch every year. That is no longer the case.

In 2023, Kelce’s yards per catch average dropped significantly, to a career-low 10.6 yards. And this year, Kelce’s average has dropped significantly again, all the way down to 8.4 yards per catch, by far the worst mark of his career.

Kelce is still getting the ball a lot, with a team-high 84 catches this season. But his average yards per catch of 8.4 is ugly; every other NFL player with at least 75 catches this season is averaging at least 10.0 yards per catch.

At the age of 35, Kelce has lost a step, and as a result he’s running shorter routes and doing less with the ball in his hands. He’s also not finding the end zone as much, with just two touchdowns through 14 games. And his first downs have declined as well, from 78 in 2022 to 50 last year to 41 this year.

The Chiefs have the NFL’s best record, and Kelce has a history of turning it on in the playoffs — as he did a year ago, when his 32 catches for 355 yards and three touchdowns were the best of any player in the NFL last postseason. They need him to step it up when the games matter most again this year, because he’s having his worst regular season.