Travis Kelce Scored 1st Touchdown of NFL Season on National Tight End Day

Travis Kelce scored the first touchdown of his 2024-2025 NFL season as tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.

The NFL star caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes to score against the Las Vegas Raiders during their Sunday, October 27, game at Allegiant Stadium in Nevada. October 27 also happens to be National Tight Ends Day, and Kelce, 35, celebrated his touchdown by spiking the ball in the endzone.

Kelce caught the touchdown pass in the game’s second quarter. Prior to this, he had gone 12 games in the regular season without scoring a touchdown pass. This not only marked the first touchdown for Kelce of the season, but gave the Chiefs a three-point lead over the Raiders. The Chiefs ultimately took home the victory with a 27-20 win. Kelce finished his Sunday game with 10 receptions and 90 yards.

According to the NFL, this score made Kelce the fifth tight end in NFL history to hit 75 receiving touchdowns. Breaking a tie with former Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, Kelce is now solidly in fifth place for career touchdowns by a tight end.

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Kelce’s touchdown comes after his hotly contested slow start to the season, which saw him catch only eight passes in the Chiefs’ first three games of the season for a total of 69 yards. Comparatively, Kelce amassed 184 receiving yards on 17 receptions during the first three games of his most productive season in 2022.

“For whatever reason, these past two games it hasn’t gone that way for me,” Kelce said of his start during the September 18 episode of his “New Heights” podcast, which he hosts with brother Jason Kelce. “That’s football, man. I’m not about to sit here and get frustrated about it.”

During the same episode, Kelce noted that he “used to get really, really pissed off and almost lose my cool,” saying, “I just like to play the game to such a high level of accountability that it's just tough for me to deal with being mediocre or having stats that represent that.”

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Kelce added, “I stopped caring about stats four or five years ago.”

Despite the slow start, Kelce has still managed to break and make records for the Chiefs.During the team’s September 29 victory against the Los Angeles Chargers, Kelce caught seven passes for 89 yards, both season highs for the NFL star. He also passed the record of legendary tight end Tony Gonzalez for most receptions in Chiefs franchise history.