Freak Play Friday twofer: Travis Kelce cannot be covered

Examining how Kelce easily beat Denzel Ward and Tre'Davious White in back-to-back weeks

Welcome back to Freak Play Friday, where we take a look at a play that required unbelievable physical talent, intelligence, or some other skillset that almost defies belief. This is in part to shine a spotlight on a few things you might have missed during the play, but mostly because it’s really, really fun. If you have any requests for a freak play you want to see examined, comment below or let me know on Twitter!

Travis Kelce is always open.

There are a few things I talk about with frequency that I believe cannot be overstated, and are my “go to the mattresses” opinions on the Chiefs. Jamaal Charles belongs in the Hall of Fame. Patrick Mahomes’ intelligence is underrated. The 2003 Chiefs win the Super Bowl if Mike Maslowski stays healthy. A few others… and the fact that Travis Kelce is always open.

If you have access to NFL Gamepass, turn it to a random Chiefs game sometime. Utilize the all-22 angle that shows you the whole field, then pick a random Kansas City offensive pass play. If Kelce is on the field and is running an actual route, odds are he’s open. It will happen snap after snap, game after game, no matter where you look.

I cannot exaggerate how rare that is. It’s hard to get open in the NFL. Defenders are incredibly smart, fast, and disciplined, and defenses are keying to stop Kelce at all times. His ability to know exactly where to be against zone coverage every single time is, in its own way, one of the most freakish things I’ve ever seen on a football field. And the problem for NFL defensive coordinators is that man coverage isn’t really a better option either.

Kelce demonstrated this last year in back-to-back games against the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills in high-leverage situations, torching a pair of cornerbacks that PFF ranked as the 7th and 8th best outside cornerbacks in the NFL in Denzel Ward and Tre’Davious White. Two of the best young corners in the game, guys whose job is to shut down the top receiver on opposing teams. And Kelce rendered them helpless when it mattered most. Let’s talk about it.

Early in the second quarter of the Divisional Round of the playoffs, the Chiefs led the Browns 6-3 and were moving the ball well, finding their way to the red zone. However, a setback put them at 2nd and 19 on the 20-yard-line. Cleveland needed the Chiefs to kick a field goal here to keep the game within reasonable reach, and so they did what any sensible team would do: Put their best cover defender on Kelce. That went a certain way, and not the way the Browns were hoping.

There are a few things to notice about the design of this play, but one of them is the gravity of Tyreek Hill Hill running out of the slot at the top of the screen. The threat of him sprinting up the seam is enough to pull the safety over the top and leave the middle of the field open underneath.

This appears to be a conscious choice by the Browns here. They’re not dumb, and know that Hill and Kelce are by far the biggest threats facing them. They also know that Hill’s speed makes him problematic for any corner 1x1, even Ward. So they choose to instead utilize bracketing on him with a pair of secondary players, hoping to erase any window for Mahomes to hit (think of the Mahomes/Hill TD vs the Titans in the AFC Championship the previous year for an idea as to the type of throw/catch they’re looking to avoid).

Of course, giving extra attention to Hill comes at a cost. The Browns try to alleviate that cost by placing their best cornerback on Kelce. On paper, it’s a sound plan. A great cornerback should be able to cover any tight end.

But he can’t. Because Travis Kelce is a freak. We end up with a great close-up angle of what he does to Ward here. You’ll want to re-watch about 8 times, focusing on Kelce’s feet first and then his hands (try not to get distracted by Ward’s hilarious slide out of the frame).

Let’s talk about feet first. The term “no wasted steps” gets thrown around constantly when talking about routes but people don’t often talk about what it looks like in practice. This should serve as an exhibit as to why the term matters. Kelce is not as good an athlete as Ward. He’s not as quick, he’s not as fast, and he has no business sending Ward skidding off like the field is covered in oil. But he does. And a big part of that is his footwork.

Let’s watch again, this time with it slowed down. Look for the purpose with each step, and how there’s nothing that happens here that doesn’t serve to bait the defender into movement of his own and give Kelce the opportunity to ultimately cut into the middle of the field. It’s worth keeping in mind while doing so that the Chiefs often have Kelce running option routes in which he’s choosing where to go based on the coverage in real time. Which means he may be doing all of this while checking the rest of the coverage to see where he can run away from the help.

This is art. Kelce’s first step left works to get him just an inch of inside leverage. His second step moves him inside and starts to drive him up the field. His third and fourth steps get him vertical “into” the defender (which allows him to lay hands on the smaller player to try and throw him off with physicality) and furthers his inside leverage to get Ward worried about a cut that direction.

Watch how the fourth step, in addition to getting Kelce up the field and inside, is being simultaneously used to plant and send him outside. This is the “no wasted steps” idea, as he accomplishes in one step what others might do in 2 or 3 or more. Steps 5, 6, and 7 drive him outside and get Ward panicking trying to cut that direction and recover (from Kelce’s hand usage, which we’ll get to shortly). But with that 7th step Kelce is already moving back inside.

That 7th step is wild, and where some of Kelce’s freakish flexibility comes into play. Most players need to plant their outside foot here to start driving back inside. Kelce begins the process with his inside foot, saving himself a step as he gains momentum towards the middle of the field. Ward is doomed at that step, he just doesn’t know it until his body catches up and he goes sliding out of the picture.

The footwork is incredible, but Kelce’s hands do great work here too. He’s patient with contact, waiting until he’s on the defender, then utilizes his left hand to shove Ward’s outside shoulder for maximum impact to force him inside (it also helps give Kelce a boost as he starts to cut outside. Leverage is fun).

Kelce is an excellent athlete at his size, even on the wrong side of 30. His change of direction is still solid and smooth. But what really does Ward in here is the pinpoint route running that is purposeful in every step. People talk about pass rushing with a plan. This is route running with a plan. Every single action is meant to set up the defender for the final cut.

This snap is an excellent example of why Kelce’s combination of route running, savvy, quickness, balance, and flexibility allows him to finesse players 40 pounds lighter than he is. It’s an incredibly difficult task to stay with him through each step of the process.

The thing that compounds this and gives us a “double feature” freak play Friday is that Kelce is also just a really big dude, and knows how to use that.

The Chiefs were walloping the Bills 31-15 early in the 4th quarter of the AFC Championship. With Kansas City again moving the ball and nearing midfield and facing a 2nd and 7, the Bills needed a positive play to give themselves any sort of chance at a comeback. Kelce lined up on the right boundary initially, and so Pro Bowl cornerback Tre-Davious White matched up against him.

Similarly to the Ward/Kelce matchup, this is one that should favor the defense. And similarly to Ward/Kelce, that’s not how it goes.

This is a simpler play/route/throw than the one above, but I like the design from Reid to stack Kelce behind another receiver and utilize that to try and throw off White and force him to keep his leverage outside.

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After that, it’s just all Kelce. White plays off him a bit (in an effort to not get screened out of the play, in part), and Kelce does a great job of pressing into White’s space and then turning inside and using his body to box out any chance White has to make a play on the ball.

The same footwork/flexibility/quickness that was on display the previous snap is clear here, as is Kelce’s pinpoint placement when he delivers a hit to White’s inside shoulder as Kelce makes his break.

But more so than anything else here, this is a “I’m bigger and stronger than one” snap. The shot Kelce delivers rocks White for just a moment, which allows Kelce to accelerate inside away from him. And Kelce’s large frame doesn’t give White anywhere to go around even if he was in position. It’s also worth noting that the ball comes out very early and hits Kelce with perfect timing before White is able to recover at all (that’s the obligatory “Mahomes is awesome” reference).

There are a ton of reasons Kelce is creeping his way towards an argument as the greatest receiving tight end to ever live (that’s for another day), but these two snaps exemplify the primary issue when teams try to use man coverage on Kelce: There’s no correct way to play him. If you give him any space, his combination of route running, flexibility, balance and quickness means he’s likely to create space from you easily. If you let him get close to you, his size and knowledge of how to use it means you’ll get jostled out of the way.

Chiefs fans should not take for granted what they are seeing in Travis Kelce. In a league full of incredible receivers, he might be the best at any position. Appreciate him, because you’re watching one of the best to ever do it. Just ask Denzel Ward or Tre’Davious White.