Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes often appear to be of one mind on the football field, like they're working in perfect union with one another.
That likely made the torn ACL that Mahomes sustained on Sunday something that was especially hard to handle for Kelce, who was on the field when the injury happened.
Kelce opened up about the experience on the latest edition of his New Heights podcast, which was released on Wednesday.
"On a freakish play to see one five go down like that, man, it f------, it was almost like it wasn't real. And s--- just sucks, man," Travis told his brother Jason. “For a guy that puts in that much and puts his body on the line week in, week out, and, you know, makes this football world he makes the best of it, man, by how hard he works. And it just, it sucks, man.”
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Travis also said this: “Obviously, we lost our quarterback, man. Patty Mahomes, our guy, our brother, our fearless leader, our face of the franchise, and, to an ACL. It's never easy seeing your guys go down. We had a bunch of guys get hurt this past game, and we fought, man. We fought.”
Kelce does believe Mahomes is going to come back from this injury as strong as ever.
“He's a warrior, man," Travis said. "I'm telling you. This guy's played through everything, battled through everything, has been crowned champion because he's battled through everything, and he's gonna battle through this. It's the only way this guy is wired, man. He's a fearless, fearless warrior when it comes to this football thing, and he's gonna make sure that he comes back stronger than ever.”
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The Chiefs were also officially eliminated from the playoffs with their loss on Sunday. Instead of getting a chance to avenge their rough loss in the Super Bowl, they won't even be in the postseason.
It's not clear whether missing the playoffs or Mahomes' injury will impact Kelce's potential retirement plans. It'll be speculated about back and forth all offseason until the legendary tight end provides some clarity.
For now, he's just hurting for Mahomes.
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