Kansas City Chiefs' tight end Travis Kelce made some history in last Sunday's matchup against the Denver Broncos. In fact, Kelce became the fastest tight end in NFL history to reach 10,000 career receiving yards, doing so in only 140 games.
It's an enormous accomplishment, but as usual, Kelce deflected his well-earned praise following the game.
"The win means more than any of those stats," said Kelce. "To come up here and get a win and be a part of the 10,000 crew – [Antonio] Gates, [Jason] Witten, [Tony] Gonzalez and [Shannon] Sharpe. It's unbelievable company to be in. I've been very fortunate that I've had the coaches and players around me to have as much success in the NFL as I have."
Kelce – who racked up 71 yards on four catches in Sunday's game – is the fifth tight end in league history to hit the 10,000-yard mark, joining the aforementioned Gonzalez (15,127 yards), Witten (13,046 yards), Gates (11,841 yards) and Sharpe (10,060 yards). He outpaced Gonzalez, who previously held the record for fewest games to 10,000 receiving yards, by 37 contests. The All-Pro tight end now needs only 16 more yards to pass Sharpe for the fourth-most by a tight end in league history.
Additionally, Kelce also extended his own NFL record on Sunday by tallying a seventh-straight 1,000-yard season. No other tight end in league history has seven total 1,000-yard seasons to their name. Kelce, meanwhile, has seven consecutive 1,000-yard campaigns. He's only the 11th player in league history to string together seven-straight 1,000-yard seasons, and he's the 16th-fastest pass-catcher to 10,000 career yards, matching A.J. Green.
Despite all of those great accomplishments, however, the achievement that Kelce was most happy about on Sunday was the Chiefs' win. It says a lot about what kind of competitor Kelce is, and while the historic statistics are a byproduct of his tremendous play, he's consistently focused on simply winning every week.
That mindset is surely what has allowed Kelce to become one of the best tight ends to ever play in the NFL. Stepping onto the field and wanting to win is his motivation – he's the ultimate team player. Sure, racking up record after record is something he hopes to achieve, but at the end of the day, the future Hall of Famer is only concerned with getting the victory.
