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Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has been among the elite group of tight ends for years now and with a seventh consecutive 1,000-yard season this fall, he would exceed 10,000 career receiving yards. He remains a matchup nightmare for an explosive offense that should be in for another big year in 2022.
2021 season statistics & fantasy finish
Stats: Kelce caught 92 passes for 1,125 yards with nine touchdowns. His longest reception went for 69 yards and finished with 12.2 yards per reception in 2021.
Fantasy: Kelce finished No. 2 among tight ends in fantasy football production behind only Mark Andrews with the Baltimore Ravens. Kelce averaged 13.6 fantasy points per game in a half-point PPR format.
Chiefs offseason moves
The most significant change to the Chiefs passing offense will be heading into the season without wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who was traded to the Miami Dolphins. However, Kansas City added receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling to go along with second-round pick Skyy Moore.
2022 best case scenario
The best case scenario for Kelce is to be the No. 1 fantasy football player at his position and continue his trajectory as one of the top pass-catching tight ends of all time. Until this past season, he finished as the No. 1 tight end in average fantasy points per game three years in a row. There is no reason to think he cannot get back to that level.
2022 worst case scenario
The worst case scenario is always an injury especially when you’ll need to spend a high draft pick on Kelce to get him in standard leagues. Outside of an injury, it’s possible Hill’s quickness and speed was more valuable to the Chiefs than we thought, and the offense takes a slight dip with fewer red-zone trips. I’m grasping for straws here because it’s hard to imagine a significant drop in production for Kelce.
2022 prediction
Kelce will continue to be awesome at the tight end position, and he may be featured in the offense more than ever without Hill taking away targets. The Chiefs have an elite-level quarterback with talented pass catchers on the roster, and Kelce will take advantage with another highly productive year as the best tight end in fantasy football.