When Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce made his 2023 season debut, he was targeted nine times in the passing game but could only catch four passes for 26 yards and a touchdown. The following week, he responded with a seven-catch, 69-yard run, adding another point to his total and calming some outsider nerves in the process.

Just two days before the end of the year, Kelce finished his third game of the 2024-25 season with his third consecutive disappointing week. While his four pass catches and 30 yards are season highs, they would both have marked some of his worst finishes of the previous season.

Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Falcons featured another mediocre offensive performance, and Kelce was no exception. Still, quarterback Patrick Mahomes thinks the attention Kelce is getting less than a month before his 35th birthday is the ultimate sign of respect.

“I mean, it’s crazy because teams still have … the respect they have for Travis is just unreal,” Mahomes said. “It’s well-deserved, but we call a lot of plays for Travis and it’s like two or three guys go to him. He understands that. I think that’s the great thing about him: He wants to make an impact in the game, but at the end of the day, he wants to win. I’m going to try to do my best to get him the ball whenever he’s there, whenever he’s free.”

Kelce definitely took a step in the right direction in Week 3, trailing only Rashee Rice in targets, catches and yards among all Chiefs pass catchers. However, the gap between those two players was extreme (Rice had 14 targets and 12 catches for 110 yards). Three games into the season, Kelce has yet to find the end zone. His two catches in the second half were good, including a 17-yard catch in the third quarter that put Kansas City in the red zone.

After last weekend’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals, Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid expressed that Kelce would eventually reach his peak numbers. No one seemed concerned that this was the new normal for one of the best tight ends in league history. That remains the case a week later, but every game that goes by without a top-notch performance from Kelce – or anything like it – will draw more and more attention to his stats.

Although he has lost a lot of athleticism compared to his prime, Kelce is still capable of creating space. His mind is also still as sharp as ever, so his ability on paper cannot be questioned. However, for one reason or another, he is not getting targets or catches in the flow of the offense. Perhaps that window will open with a larger sample size.

Mahomes believes that if others (or in Rice’s case, remain) and Kelce continues like this, the rest will work itself out.

“I think the more Rashee plays, the more we can run the football, the more we can get (Xavier) Worthy involved. I think that will give Travis more room to play,” Mahomes said. “People are putting a lot of emphasis on shutting him down, and that frees up other guys.”

Read more: Patrick Mahomes criticizes his performance despite the Chiefs’ win against the Falcons