It was in private, back in April 2013, when Andy Reid had the ear of Travis Kelce and gave the tight end a piece of his mind. It was in front of the world, almost 11 years later, that Kelce gave the head coach his own, ferocious talking to.
Few images from the first Super Bowl in Sin City will endure like the sight of Kelce bumping into Reid and screaming into his coach’s face. No matter that the Kansas City Chiefs went on to secure back-to-back championships. No matter that it was Patrick Mahomes who orchestrated (yet) another slice of history. That first-half clash was caught on camera and flooded social media. The incident was revisited time and again during the post-match debrief, too.
Who could have blamed Reid had he wound the clock back, to the 2013 NFL draft, when he picked up the phone and called the younger Kelce brother. In Las Vegas the coach could have been forgiven for thinking: maybe I was right all along.
After all, the story goes, Reid – who had already drafted Jason Kelce to the Eagles in 2011 and was now considering bringing Travis to Kansas City – reprimanded the tight end over his behavior and apparent volatility. As Kelce later recalled, Reid all-but said: ‘Are you going to screw this up? I need a mature guy. I don’t need a guy who’s going to come in and be silly.’
More than a decade later, Kelce accepted that he had crossed a line in Las Vegas. But Reid shrugged off the meltdown. A ‘cheap shot,’ he jokingly called it. ‘I didn’t see him coming, or I would have forearm ripped him.’ It was a masterclass in how to defuse a bubbling PR disaster. But also another glimpse into the special relationship that has helped propel two brothers and one family towards superstardom.
Jason only worked with Reid for a couple of seasons but still he says the coach and his family ‘played such an incredible part of me and my brother being able to play at this level’. Travis credits ‘Big Red’ with dragging him on to the straight and narrow.
Sometimes it only takes a look for his message to land; their bond goes beyond the professional. The 65-year-old coach considers himself part of the Kelce family. Jason agrees. As for Travis? ‘He’s like one of my kids,’ Reid has said. ‘There’s nobody I get better than I get him.’
