OVERVIEW
In high school, Kelce was a three sport star, but his best sport was always football. He was a three-year letter winner at quarterback, and earned All-Lake Erie League honors after totaling 2,539 yards of total offense and 31 total touchdowns as a senior. Kelce’s uncle Don Blalock played football at Purdue and grandfather Don Blalock played football at Ohio. Travis is the younger brother of former Cincinnati Bearcats and current Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce.
In his first year on campus, Travis redshirted. In his redshirt freshman year, Kelce participated in 11 games as the tight end. He caught one pass for three yards. Kelce also played some quarterback, strictly in a Wildcat role. He logged eight carries for 47 yards and two touchdowns. Kelce did not play in 2010, as he was suspended for a violation of team rules. Upon his return in 2011, Kelce caught 13 passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns. In his senior season, Kelce put himself on the NFL prospect map, as he caught 45 passes for 722 yards and eight touchdowns. He was selected to the All-Big East first team for his play.
ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS Kelce has an ideal tight end frame. Athletic for his size, with great strength, and the ability to stretch the field vertically. Very physical run blocker, generates power from the lower half, and will move defenders off the ball. Plays with leverage. Wide catching radius, can adjust and make the difficult catch. Tough to bring down after the catch. Light feet, and has lined up in numerous different positions.
WEAKNESSES Suspended for an entire season for violating team rules. Only one season of production. Doesn't have blazing speed. Not a tremendously explosive athlete. Doesn't come out of his breaks all that well.
NFL COMPARISON Rob Gronkowski
BOTTOM LINE Kelce has been a tremendous run blocker throughout his career for the Bearcats, but really elevated his game as a receiver in his senior season. He isn't a tremendous athlete, but he does a lot of things very well. It's a deep tight end class, but Kelce's play suggests that he should be highly sought after. [Reply]
I don’t take ANYONE’s player evaluations on this site seriously. I mean, it’s just an unqualified opinion like everyone else here. Now, there are some that think a lot more of there opinions than others, but at the end of the day, it’s all in fun. So, I don’t hold anything against anyone that has rotten takes in these threads. The fact is that we are all here to offer our shitty takes. Some of us just have shittier takes than others :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by ChiTown:
Here is the reality:
I don’t take ANYONE’s player evaluations on this site seriously. I mean, it’s just an unqualified opinion like everyone else here. Now, there are some that think a lot more of there opinions than others, but at the end of the day, it’s all in fun. So, I don’t hold anything against anyone that has rotten takes in these threads. The fact is that we are all here to offer our shitty takes. Some of us just have shittier takes than others :-)
Originally Posted by ThaVirus:
Tell me y'all remember Catapano... lol
Staylor loved him some Mike Catapano.
BIG CAT! I'll never forget the summer of Big Cat.
Coming out of this draft though i was a huge Kelce and Sanders Commings homer. I guess batting .500 aint so bad when one is a first ballot HOF'er. [Reply]
Originally Posted by JPH83:
I think there's a point you cut bait and say "this was a bad pick, let's move on". Kaindoh is probably that sort of guy, but I had a devil convincing some people it wasn't a very good pick that just needed another year. I say this as someone who is way more wrong than right on draft picks.
For sure. And you'll notice there's virtually no discussion about Kaindoh at all. Because he's a complete non-factor.
This is exactly the kind of treatment bad picks should get. Especially considering how many GOOD picks they've had over the last 3 years. [Reply]
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
For sure. And you'll notice there's virtually no discussion about Kaindoh at all. Because he's a complete non-factor.
This is exactly the kind of treatment bad picks should get. Especially considering how many GOOD picks they've had over the last 3 years.
Heard this brought up recently on a pod and got to thinking about it.
Isn't it usually better to give up early and move on? How many times has that came back to bite someone vs holding on and waiting for whatever? [Reply]
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
For sure. And you'll notice there's virtually no discussion about Kaindoh at all. Because he's a complete non-factor.
This is exactly the kind of treatment bad picks should get. Especially considering how many GOOD picks they've had over the last 3 years.
The reason there's no discussion about Kaindoh is because there's nobody out there pumping his tires.
Speaks is the obvious counter-example. Speaks was a pile of shit from day 1 and yet you had folks who want to shout from the rooftops about how great he was even though he stuck to blockers like he'd been gorilla glued to them.
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
The reason there's no discussion about Kaindoh is because there's nobody out there pumping his tires.
Speaks is the obvious counter-example. Speaks was a pile of shit from day 1 and yet you had folks who want to shout from the rooftops about how great he was even though he stuck to blockers like he'd been gorilla glued to them.
Takes two to tango in these things...
Speaks was the Mondesi of the Chiefs for a few years. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Marcellus:
I dunno some of the worst takes in this thread are from some of the most predictable people but that's how it usually goes.
Then again I wanted Chip Kelley and Geno Smith that offseason :-)
No one can prove it wouldn't have been just as successful, it's just unlikely lol. [Reply]
