There were moments during the latest NFL season when it seemed like Taylor Swift was as prominent a focus-or more-heading into the games as the actual players.
As the coach of Travis Kelce, the player who has been dating Swift and attracting that extra dose of attention to his team, Andy Reid is often asked what he really thinks about the relationship and the way that the Chiefs seemed to fall under a microscope because of it.
During an appearance this week on NBC Sports’ PFT Live, the Kansas City Chiefs coach seemed to brush off the heightened focus.
“I really didn’t worry about it,” Reid said when the show’s co-host, Chris Simms, asked if Reid had ever thought that the Swift effect had become “too much.”
Reid recalled that he knew Swift’s father, Scott Swift, long before the “Cruel Summer” singer began dating the Chiefs tight end and that Swift’s parents are both “good solid people.” Reid said he also met Swift when she was younger. Given the amount of fame and success she has attained all these years later, Reid said she is “so grounded for who she is.” “I mentioned somewhere that, since the queen has passed away, she might be the most famous woman in the world,” Reid said. “But she handles it.”
Reid, who just coached the Chiefs to their second consecutive Super Bowl win on Feb. 11, then said he thinks football is “a great escape” for Swift, who began attending Chiefs games last fall when she and Kelce took their relationship public. “She sincerely enjoys the games,” Reid said. Despite the incredible amount of attention Swift and Kelce-and the Chiefs as a team-received over the last several months, Reid doesn’t seem to think it was “too much” at all.
“Honestly, Travis handled it great, she handled it great,” Reid said. “It was never an issue.”