KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – NOVEMBER 21: Travis Kelce #87 of the Kansas City Chiefs runs with the ball against Jourdan Lewis #26 of the Dallas Cowboys during the fourth quarter of the game at Arrowhead Stadium on November 21, 2021 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Dallas Cowboys fans certainly can’t be happy with an interesting tidbit courtesy of Kansas City Chiefs superstar tight end Travis Kelce.
As hard as it is to believe now, Kelce was not exactly super highly-touted entering the 2013 NFL Draft. He was a third-round pick (63rd overall) by the Chiefs that year, and four tight ends were taken before him.
During the latest edition of the “New Heights” podcast that he co-hosts with older brother Jason Kelce, Travis revealed that he had an awful interview with the Cowboys ahead of the draft.
The Cowboys addressed Kelce’s one-year suspension at Cincinnati for smoking marijuana. Travis told America’s Team not to draft him if they were still worried about his character. Sure enough, they made the mistake of actually listening to him:
Wild: Apparently the #Cowboys did not draft Travis Kelce because of the ‘red flags’ the team had because he smoked weed 🤯
(Via @newheightshow)pic.twitter.com/Z243zmV1PQ
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) March 5, 2024
And that meant a frenzy of tweet from fans over the team’s mind-boggling decision to pass on a future generational talent in Kelce:
Nice!!! So let’s pass on Travis Kelce but we’re drafting Randy Gregory who was suspended and dealt with a lot of off field issues.
— Nick Maldonado (@nickmaldonado23) March 3, 2024
the fact they could of had travis breaks my heart
— sendo (@sendokicks23) March 2, 2024
Cowboys talk gets you clicks. If he had said another team, it would not have made it to twitterland.
— knickssportsguy (@Dad2020C) March 3, 2024
Imagine not wanting to draft someone bc they smoked a legal substance 😭
— Lucky (@L7ckys) March 5, 2024
welp, i mean look at the cowboys
— bealo (@bealo_) March 5, 2024
On one hand, Cowboys fans can argue that the pass-catching position wasn’t their biggest need at the time. They already had a future Hall of Tame TE in Jason Witten, star wideout Dez Bryant and even future rushing champion DeMarco Murray in the backfield.
But they did use a second-round pick (47th overall) on tight end Gavin Escobar, who saw limited playing time over his four years there.
There’s no guarantee Kelce would have developed into a future Hall of Fame talent in Dallas. But if the Chiefs didn’t land him, we certainly wouldn’t be talking about an NFL dynasty in the Midwest, either.
