Originally appeared on E! Online
Don’t call Travis Kelce an anti-hero.
Despite having what appeared to be a heated exchange with Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid during their Sept. 21 game, the team’s tight end insisted their bond remains firmly intact.
“I love that guy, man,” Kelce, 35, told reporters at a press conference Sept. 26, according to the Kansas City Star. “There’s nothing outside of this building that’s going to make me feel any different way. We know exactly each other’s intentions.”
The three-time Super Bowl champion — who got engaged to Taylor Swift in August — went on to praise the 67-year-old for helping him reach new heights as a player.
“I think what Coach Reid does best is he challenges guys to be at their best, and I love that about him,” he continued. “It definitely helped me take my game to another level that game.”
Similarly, Reid was mum about what exactly led to the seemingly tense moment, chalking it up to business as usual.
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“[Travis] knows when to back off the pedal and he knows when to push it, too,” he said at a press conference after the game, per CBS Sports. “That’s part of what I love about him. The guy’s all in, just sometimes, I have to be the policeman.”
The football veteran — who has been coaching the Chiefs since 2013 — also noted that he and Kelce have “been through a lot of things” together over the course of their professional relationship, before joking about his star player’s passion for the game.
“He’s an emotional guy,” Reid observed, adding, “He’s Irish.”
It wasn’t the first time the two have gotten caught up in the heat of the moment, either. During the 2024 Super Bowl, cameras caught Kelce yelling in his coach’s face and grabbing his arm on the sidelines, though he quickly took accountability for the incident.
“I can’t get that fired up to the point where it’s getting him off balance,” Kelce said on his New Heights podcast days later. “When he stumbled I was just like, ‘Oh s—,’ in my head.”
“I love Coach Reid,” Kelce continued. “Coach Reid knows how much I love to be a product of his coaching career.”
PHOTOSTaylor Swift, Travis Kelce
