Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce didn't place an overriding priority on extending his streak of 1,000-yard campaigns to eight seasons.
The nine-time Pro Bowler fell just short, catching 93 passes for 984 yards. He almost certainly would've gotten to 1,000 yards if he had suited up for Kansas City's 13-12 win over the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 18.
At the 33-minute mark in the newest episode of New Heights, presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment, Kelce discussed the game and said he "was never into this" when referencing the streak. He said, "it never felt right to go out there chasing stats."
"For me to just jump in on game day to try to get 15, 16 yards, whatever it was, which is a lot harder than what you guys think it is even though I had 100-something against the Chargers earlier that year," he said. "It's hard to do that twice against a team... It never felt right."
Kelce added the Chargers have "a lot of veteran football players that understand the game and understand why the f--k I'm in the game." For him, resting up ahead of the playoffs also made more sense than risking a possible injury in a game with low stakes.
More broadly, the 34-year-old explained how winning a Super Bowl is always his ultimate goal in any season, and he puts much less value in hitting certain statistical benchmarks.
It might have been one thing if Kelce were chasing a hallowed NFL record, such as the single-season receptions or yardage marks. But there's functionally little difference between having seven straight 1,000-yard seasons instead of eight.
Especially if Kelce had played for the sole purpose of extending his record, then he would've been widely viewed as — in his own words — "chasing stats."
