Chiefs' latest major injury putting more pressure on Travis Kelce

The Kansas City Chiefs need the old Travis Kelce. As in, the Chiefs need vintage Travis Kelce, and they need him in the worst possible way.

The Chiefs lost big-money free agent signing Marquise Brown in the preseason with an injury. They recently lost Isiah Pacheco to a major injury. Now, they are facing the probability that star receiver and second-year player Rashee Rice will miss the remainder of the 2024 season with a major knee injury.

The Chiefs' weapons offensively are dropping one by one, but no. 87 remains...

Chiefs will put a lot of pressure on Travis Kelce going forward

In the Chiefs' win on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers, Kelce was the team's leading receiver and actually passed the Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez for the most receptions in Kansas City Chiefs history. That is no small feat considering those of us who grew up in the 90s remember Tony Gonzalez being on the receiving end of most passes thrown by Chiefs QBs in that time.

Kelce has been accused of being "washed" by a wide variety of people in recent weeks, mostly angry fantasy football fans. And Kelce hadn't been producing at the level we've been accustomed to seeing from him over the course of his NFL career. He had just 69 yards in the first three games of the season. As nice as that may be, the Chiefs are used to this guy being a 1,000-yard receiver every single year.

Kelce still makes an impact in other ways, but seeing him show out the way he did against the Chargers was desperately needed and potentially a sign that the Chiefs will put a lot more pressure on him going forward. Against the Chargers, Kelce caught seven passes for 89 yards. The numbers weren't gaudy on paper, but the actual impact on the field was certainly felt in a big way.

Losing Rashee Rice is massive for the Chiefs right now. They were already down a number of skill players offensively and Rice has been their featured weapon in the passing game. He was second in the entire NFL going into Week 3 in receiving yards. Not having him out there will force players like Kelce and first-round pick Xavier Worthy to really step up for the remainder of the season, but that kind of pressure is nothing new to Kelce.

He's been the go-to option for Patrick Mahomes for many years now, and it's a role he's comfortable playing. The question is whether or not what he brings to the table at this point will be enough for the Chiefs as the long season goes along. For the time being, they are 4-0 with a two-game lead already over every other team in the AFC West, not a bad spot to be in early in the season.