Jason Kelce Claps Back at Critics Saying Travis Kelce's "Slow Start" on Chiefs Is Due to Taylor Swift

Jason Kelce is putting up a strong defense for Travis Kelce.

The Monday Night Countdown analyst clapped back at criticism aimed at Travis' recent NFL performance, saying that the Kansas City Chiefs tight end's "slow start" this season has nothing to do with his relationship with Taylor Swift.

"Optics are that he is all over the place," Jason said before the Chiefs' Oct. 7 game against the New Orleans Saints, explaining that though his younger brother spent time with the "Karma" singer during his break, "football has always been the most important thing in Trav's life."

"He has always lived his life to the fullest," the 36-year-old continued. "He has enjoyed his off-seasons very much even before Taylor Swift and everything else that was going on in our lives."

Jason added that Travis, 35, does have his head in the game despite his and Taylor's high-profile romance, noting, "He is always going to find a way to make football the number one priority."

"I know it's been a slow start for him," Jason said. "Trav is always gonna find a way to show up and show out. It's only a matter of time before he gets back."

As for his thoughts on Taylor? The former Philadelphia Eagles center is proud to have her serve as Travis' cheer captain. In fact, he stopped his analysis to point out the Grammy winner's arrival at Arrowhead Stadium.

"Hey, look at that now," Jason said when the camera cut to Taylor—clad in a plaid top and skirt from Vivienne Westwood—walking to her seat. "That looks good."

And for what it's worth, even Travis has acknowledged that he and the Chiefs were "not playing our best football" at the start of the season.

"Everybody can clean up," the athlete admitted on the Sept. 25 episode of his and Jason's New Heights podcast. "Moving forward, everyone's just tweaking their game in the right direction."

Travis’ career ambition isn’t the only reason he might be the one for Taylor. For more reasons why their romance works, keep reading.

Long before Taylor Swift's attendance at the Kansas City Chief's Sept. 24, 2023 game became one of the definitive pop culture moments of the year, Travis Kelce was an admirer of the Grammy winner. 

The star tight end's interest in Taylor was first revealed by one of his teammates in a TikTok video posted by the Chiefs in August 2023 (which, in hindsight, was when the pair were secretly dating). 

Before Travis could answer the prompt of who his celebrity crush was, wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling spilled, "Taylor Swift!"

Travis smiled at the camera before holding his finger up to his moustache, saying, "Alright now!"

Plus, Travis was just one of many celebs to attend Taylor's record-breaking Eras Tour even before they kicked off their yearlong romance. But more on that enchanting moment in a bit...

While he does have that daydream look in his eyes (especially when he sees Taylor on the big-screen at one of his games), Travis stands out a bit when you look back at Taylor’s dating history.

She is typically attracted to creative types, including actors (Joe Alwyn, Jake Gyllenhaal, Taylor Lautner and Tom Hiddleston) and musicians (Calvin Harris, John Mayer, Harry Styles and, most recently, Matty Healy).

But perhaps that’s why her romance with the lighthearted and cheeky athlete—who signed an updated two-year deal with the Chiefs worth $34.25 million in 2024—feels like such a refreshing option for Taylor after her six-year uber-private relationship with Joe came to an end in April 2023. 

Looks like the eight-time Pro Bowler’s wishes came true after he all but manifested his rumored romance with the superstar through sheer will, determination and declarations of infatuation. 

Travis publicly aired his failed attempt to shoot his shot and talk to Taylor when he attended the Kansas City stop on her Eras Tour July 7, 2023. As it turns out, he had a special gift for her: A friendship bracelet bearing his "number" that he hoped to give Taylor. (He wouldn't definitely say if it was his jersey number or phone number.)

Despite his claim that he was "disappointed" he failed to meet her after the concert, Taylor confirmed to TIME that she belatedly caught his podcast pass.

"Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell," she recalled. "We started hanging out right after that. So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I'm grateful for, because we got to get to know each other."

So, that whole theory about the Sept. 24 game being their first official hang? As Taylor clarified to TIME, "We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date." 

Since her breakup with Joe, Taylor has been seen in public more frequently, including outings with friends in NYC and jubilant appearances at award shows, like the 2023 MTV VMAs and the 2024 Grammys.

But her most talked-about appearance? Sitting in Travis' suite at the Chief's Sept. 24, 2023 home game against the Chicago Bears.

Rather than shy away from the attention, Taylor cheered and screamed "Let's f--king go!" when Travis scored a touchdown. Like the public, even Travis admitted he was caught off-guard by Taylor accepting his invite.

"Shoutout to Taylor for pulling up, that was pretty ballsy," Travis said during the Sept. 27 episode of the New Heights podcast. "I just thought it was awesome how everyone in the suite had nothing but great things to say about her, the friends and family."

"She looked amazing," he added. " It was definitely a game I will remember, that's for damn sure."

Since then, Taylor and Travis have been photographed hand-in-hand on dates all around the world and have made multiple visits to a Christmas bar in Kansas City, where they were not shy about PDA.

And, after revealing to TIME that she retreated from the spotlight when Kim Kardashian's infamous leaked phone call in 2016, Taylor is going out tonight...and every night, if she wants to, thank you very much.

"Life is short," she said. "Have adventures. Me locking myself away in my house for a lot of years—I’ll never get that time back. I’m more trusting now than I was six years ago.”

While Travis isn't afraid to spill some tea on his Sept. 27, 2023 podcast regarding his interactions with Taylor, he still expressed his boundaries about addressing his personal life moving forward.

"I know I brought all this attention to me," he explained. "I did the whole friendship bracelet thing and told everyone how butthurt I was that I didn't get to meet Taylor." However, he continued, he didn't plan to give a full play-by-play of their relationship. 

"What's real is that it is my personal life and I want to respect both of our lives," he explained. "I'm enjoying life and I sure as hell enjoyed this weekend. So everything moving forward, I think me talking about sports and saying 'alright nah' will have to be where I keep it."

He doubled-down on his desire to play it cool in a November 2023 interview with the Wall Street Journal.

"Everybody around me telling me: Don't f--k this up! And me sitting here saying: Yeah—got it," he told the outlet, before addressing the media attention. "That was the biggest thing to me: make sure I don't say anything that would push Taylor away."

But that doesn't mean he's been able to resist publicly talking about his girlfriend—crediting her for the boost in sales of his jersey and calling her "amazing" after she was booed by New England Patriots fans at his Dec. 17 game.

"I've never been a man of words," he admitted to WSJ. "Being around her, seeing how smart Taylor is, has been f--king mind-blowing. I'm learning every day." 

Like Taylor, who is close with her parents, particularly her mother Andrea, Travis hails from a tight-knit fam, including his parents Ed and Donna Kelce.

Donna became a beloved public figure when she became the first mother to have two sons playing against each other in a Super Bowl, when Travis faced off against his older brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, in the big game in February 2023.

"For all the stars to align and for them to get through high school and college and the pros. And for them to both play in the Pro Bowl and to play in the Super Bowl, and then for this to happen," Donna told ET at the time. "This is just like a dream come true. I can't express enough how special this is for the family and it's just crazy."

Donna, who was married to Ed for 25 years before they divorced, supported both of her sons by wearing a half-black, half-red Eagles and Chiefs jacket.

After the Super Bowl, which saw the Chiefs best the Eagles, Travis and Jason got emotional while reflecting on sharing the experience with Donna.

"The moment I saw mom is when I got really emotional," Jason said on the brothers' New Heights podcast. "It was so awesome...She was on top of the world for a week."

"She was the heavyweight champ man," Travis added. "She was on top of it, and she shined the whole time."

Like Taylor and her younger brother Austin Swift, Travis has a special bond with his older brother Jason, who inspired him to play football. 

In addition to their impressive careers as NFL players, Travis and Jason launched their podcast New Heights in September 2022, a project that has only strengthened their relationship (and their bank accounts). 

"What this did was gave us a scheduled two to three hour window where we have to talk to each other and we have to talk about what we're going through, throughout the week and throughout the games," Travis told NBC Sports in February 2023. "It's almost been like therapy, man."

Sure, the pair technically never met until 2023, but there have been a few invisible strings tying them together.

Taylor and Travis both count Miles Teller as a friend, with the Top Gun: Maverick star and his wife Keleigh Sperry even being recruited by Taylor to star in the music video for "I Bet You Think About Me" off Red (Taylor's Version) in 2021.

Travis, meanwhile, joined Miles and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes for golfing practice ahead of the American Century Championship in 2022.

Miles tweeted a photo of himself on the golf course with the athletes, writing, "Grip it and rip it." Travis proved the bromance was real when he reposted the shot and added, "Back at it like we never left!!"

(Interestingly enough, Miles is a noted diehard Philadelphia Eagles fans, so perhaps he put in a word with Jason to broker an IRL meet-up between Travis and Taylor?)

While Taylor attended the Sept. 24, 2023 game solo, she brought an entourage of celebrity friends with her when she attended the Chiefs' match-up against the New York Jets at New Jersey's Metlife Stadium on Oct. 1.

She was accompanied by BFFs Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds and his friend Hugh Jackman, as well as Sophie Turner, Sabrina Carpenter and Queer Eye's Antoni Porowski.

While their attendance at the game spoke volumes, even more telling was Ryan following Travis on Instagram.

Not only has Travis played in four Super Bowls, winning three of them (NBD!), but he's also hosted Saturday Night Live, so you know he can handle intense spotlight with ease. 

That may seem trivial, but Taylor has penned several songs regarding her fear that her level of fame could prove to be too much for her romantic partner to handle. (See: "Peace" and "The Archer.") 

"It all depends who you're with," Taylor said in, "If they have a serious issue with it, I guess you'll hide or whatever, but I don't really like that, because it makes me feel like I'm running from the law or something. I don't want to feel like a fugitive, like, 'Oh my god, we're having a relationship, better hide!'

"I feel like if you can be in a relationship and have it seem normal, that would be good." 

And in his WSJ interview, Travis proved he's more than ready for the pressure that comes with dating someone as powerful as Taylor.

"Obviously I've never dated anyone with that kind of aura about them...I've never dealt with it," he said. "But at the same time, I'm not running away from any of it."

"The scrutiny she gets, how much she has a magnifying glass on her, every single day, paparazzi outside her house, outside every restaurant she goes to, after every flight she gets off, and she's just living, enjoying life," he added. "When she acts like that I better not be the one acting all strange."

Further proving their love is worthy of a rom-com treatment, fans were swooning after a concertgoer captured video of Taylor running into Travis' arms and exchanging a passionate kiss after performing in Argentina Nov. 11. And that was after she changed the lyrics in Karma from "the guy on the screen" to "the guy on the Chiefs," much to Travis' surprise as he attended alongside her father, Scott Swift.

Turning out for one another's stadium takeovers—Taylor attended 13 Chiefs games last season, traveling straight from her Tokyo show to make the Super Bowl—is a show of how serious their relationship is.

"I'm going to see him do what he loves, we're showing up for each other, other people are there and we don't care," Taylor told TIME of their public support. "The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you're seeing someone. And we're just proud of each other."

And if her presence at the NFL games annoys you, well, Taylor can't even be bothered to have bad blood with you. 

"There's a camera, like, a half-mile away, and you don't know where it is, and you have no idea when the camera is putting you in the broadcast, so I don't know if I'm being shown 17 times or once," she said. "I'm just there to support Travis. I have no awareness of if I'm being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads, and Chads."

Travis turned 34 last Oct. 5 meaning he was born in—are you ready for it?—1989. Screaming, crying, throwing up, etc.

Speaking of Killa Trav's birthday, did you know he shares his with Taylor's late grandmother Marjorie Finlay, the subject of her song "Marjorie" off of 2020's evermore? If we didn't know better, we'd think this is a sign...

For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App