It's you downplaying his elite physical traits. Nothing else.
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just because of brady
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Kelce is the GOAT TE

others might try and argue and say Gonzo is because of his longevity and he 'changed the position'

but nobody has had as much impact as Kelce, plus Kelce's playoff stats have to count for something as well.
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This you, bucko?

Maybe just go with "I come not to bury Caesar, but Praise him..." or something...

Like I said - I suspect your point was to make some scrappy underdog tale and build Kelce up by trying to argue that hard work and effort put him alongside guys who he couldn't hang with athletically.

And I'm telling you - you're wrong. 100% unequivocally, absolutely wrong.

Travis Kelce hangs with and/or demolishes every single person you've named from a strictly athletic perspective. FFS - Jason !@#$ing Witten? What are we even talking about here?

Travis Kelce's is as physically gifted as any TE to ever step between the lines. Full stop. Trying to argue otherwise in some inane effort to prop up his football savvy does a disservice to how extraordinary and rare his combination of intelligence, dedication and athleticism truly is.
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I mean FFS, has Zilla not seen Kelce dance?
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I’m not downplaying his physical abilities. People are downplaying the best of all timers to prop our own guy up. Imagine finding it horrible and insulting to suggest a player has hall of fame abilities.
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Appreciation is due. For sure it ends in the HOF.

He’s 34 now or will be. We saw him on the sidelines more, recovering or catching his breath. No one avoids aging. I’m going to miss him when he retires. One of my favorite all time Chief players.
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always looking for the ball.....always
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Imagine saying that Travis Kelce is athletically inferior to Jason Witten and trying to use that as a feather in his cap.

Again - think of the defenses Gonzalez was going against. These were defenses built around stopping the run. Devin White didn't exist back then. There was Derrick Brooks and then...yeah, Derrick Brooks.

There are a dozen guys who can give you the size/speed combo of Derrick Brooks these days. Willie Gay can do it. Shit, Leo Chenal can do it.

These are COMPLETELY different guys that Kelce is beating out there. The guy can run a simple dig route and have cornerbacks literally tripping over their own feet.

But because Tony G caught passes in traffic I'm supposed to say he's somehow athletically superior to Travis Kelce? Because Gronk can run over guys I'm supposed to say he's a better athlete - shit, Dontari Poe can run over guys, was he a better athlete than Travis Kelce?

You're just completely out to lunch here. No, these guys were absolutely not better athletes than Travis Kelce.
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Oh good grief. I brought witten and Andrews up because blocking is part of the conversation for GOAT. You cannot walk into a debate outside this bubble comparing him to gronk and completely dismiss if. You’ll get throttled. Kelce is solid enough as a blocker but he’s not elite.

You are trying to have your cake and eat it too. You believe he’s a blowout in every category? I don’t believe that’s true. Even noting his extraordinary football iq, route running, and effort the GOAT discussion is really close. And it’s not crazy to suggest guys like gonzo and gronk belong in this conversation. So if you’re suggesting that he’s also more physically gifted than these guys than you’re claiming this is a blowout.

I agree with you that it’s his unique combo of everything that makes him GOAT. I don’t think it’s crazy or upsetting at all to suggest that on physical talent alone, he isnt. Again that is not saying he’s anything short of exceptional on physical talent alone.
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I said witten was a more gifted blocker. And he was.
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I’ve said many times that MJ was the best to ever play any sport. The eyeball test says differently. Lebron should mop the floor for best ever to play the game. That doesn’t mean MJ wins this because he’s scrappy or lunch pail. He used his talents way better than Lebron did physically and mentally. That ultimately is what puts kelce over the top of some tight ends who had absolutely outstanding careers.
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He is a curator of his trade
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Blocking comes up in GOAT conversations if you are talking about Olinemen, not TEs. No one remembers who the greatest TEs are based on blocking. That’s like judging GOAT QBs based off of their play action pass ability. How good of a blocker was Jerry Rice? No one knows or cares. History will look back on Kelce and see one of if not the greatest TE to ever suit up.
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Peak ability it IS a blowout.

Tony Gonzalez had more than 1,000 yards 4 times in 17 years, Kelce's done it 6 times in a row. Tony G had 5 years of greater than 90 receptions - Kelce's gonna click off his 5th consecutive such season this year.

Tony never once had a single season where he averaged more than 9 yards/target. Kelce has averaged 9 yards/target for his career.

Moreover, you're acting like your counter-examples were some pile of lazy, braindead mongoloids. They weren't - those guys were extremely smart players in their own right.

I ask again - what do ANY of those guys bring to the table physically that Kelce can't answer? Gonzalez doesn't have a single thing on him. Not one. Size, strength, speed, agility - none of it. He didn't beat Kelce in a single one of those areas physically. Gronk is stronger - Kelce beats him in every other metric.

Gates didn't have anywhere near the fluidity Kelce has. Straight line speed? He may have had Kelce for a couple of years there, I'll give you that. But he didn't use his speed as well as Kelce does and frankly Kelce's ability to retain speed while moving gave him a better athletic profile than Gates. It made him far more dangerous.

You say we're overselling Kelce's athleticism. I say you're underselling the rest of these guy's savvy and work ethic. Trait for trait, I don't see how you can say Kelce isn't the equal of the rest of these guys.
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