Please Don't Let Travis Kelce Be Milkshake Ducked by his Taylor Swift Relationship

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | September 25, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | September 25, 2023 |

After a few weeks of rumors, the relationship between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce is official. Swift attended a Kansas City Chiefs game yesterday and hung out with Kelce’s mom in a stadium booth. Swift and Kelce were also seen together after the game. No, I don’t know what Kelce was wearing, either. The relationship purportedly began after Kelce gave Swift a friendship bracelet with his phone number.

Talk about being at the right place at the right time! Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce leaving Arrowhead together after the game. #Bears #ChiefsKingdom #NFL pic.twitter.com/wrMoDszOme

— Jarrett Payton (@paytonsun) September 25, 2023

The relationship has sparked an Internet fury, mostly from Swift fans quickly trying to understand football.

But here’s my concern: I am not a Chiefs fan, but I love Travis Kelce. There are not many genuinely good people one can root for in the NFL, but Kelce is not only the best at his position but genuinely a fun dude. He’s gregarious, fun-loving, and sweet, like a slightly brighter Rob Gronkowski (Gronkowski was the best tight end playing in the league before Kelce). He hosted SNL and wasn’t bad!

However, NFL players typically do not have to undergo the strict scrutiny of most celebrities. The bar is relatively low, so there are a lot of free passes because NFL players are compared to other NFL players and not the celebrity world. It’s why Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen — even though he is dating Hailee Steinfeld — hasn’t been put through the wringer, which is good because his early social media history is bad.

We’ve also seen what happened to Aaron Rodgers: He went from a fun-loving quarterback who was the face of an insurance company to a weirdo anti-vax conspiracy theorist. I can assure you that 1) there are a lot of NFL players who share Aaron Rodgers’ beliefs about the COVID-19 vaccine, and 2) most NFL players probably have bad politics. The ones who care about their image (Peyton Manning) keep those politics to themselves, and then there is Drew Brees. (Speaking of Brees, did you see the drubbing the Dolphins put on Sean Payton’s Broncos yesterday? Couldn’t have happened to a worse guy, and Nathaniel Hackett would have been gloating if the Jets weren’t so bad))

The deal is this: Travis Kelce, at least as far as I know, has never said anything awful. The biggest controversy surrounding Kelce is being suspended from college football for a year for smoking pot, which makes him more likable! He’s an NFL stoner!

His social media is relatively benign. He’s not a great speller, but he loves Henry Winkler! He also loves his brother — Jason, who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles — and his mom! In fact, Kelce and his mom were in a commercial promoting the COVID-19 vaccine (and he’s caught a lot of shit for it from conservative NFL fans, too). He also appeared in a Bud Light commercial after the Dylan Mulvaney controversy, and while he may have agreed to do the ad spot before the Mulvaney business, he has not pulled a tweet promoting Bud Light. That shouldn’t be a big deal, but it is, particularly for a midwestern guy (he’s from Ohio).

And this is my chief concern: The Swifties are going to unearth everything. They’ll sift through his social media history, read every quote he ever made dating back to his high school years, and probably rifle through his underwear drawer. Before Swift, he also dated social media influencer Kayla Nicole for five years, and her social media history will probably be scrutinized, as well (from what I can gather, it’s just thirst for as long as the eye can see).

But it only takes one unsavory quote to cost the guy years and years of goodwill. I’d like to think that he can survive it, but few people can. To wit: I had no idea who Matt Healy was a year ago, but now I know he’s a terrible person, thanks to Taylor Swift. That’s good information to know, and I very seriously doubt that Travis Kelce will be proven to be a terrible person. He’s too good-hearted. He cries when he thinks about his mom. But also, I wouldn’t wish the scrutiny of dating Taylor Swift on anyone. I can’t imagine it’s worth it for the opportunity to be another in a succession of Taylor Swift’s exes.

Knowing NFL fans, it won’t be roses for Swift, either. After one bad game or one dropped pass, every Chiefs fan will blame Taylor Swift like they blamed Danica Patrick and Olivia Munn for Aaron Rodgers’ bad games. Celebrity and NFL fandoms alike are brutal.

Kelce is one of the four best tight ends in NFL history (Gates, Gonzales, Gronk) and may ultimately end up being remembered as best. That is, if he’s not remembered first for what a Swiftie digs up on him from 2008.