Travis Kelce on Chiefs Losing Orlando Brown Jr.: ‘Hurts My Soul’

Brown departed the Chiefs for the Bengals in free agency.

Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was disappointed to lose Pro Bowl offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. in free agency to the conference rival Bengals.

Brown, who played under the franchise tag last season, reached a four-year deal with Cincinnati worth $64 million, including $31 million guaranteed.

“It hurts. It hurts my soul, man. Hurts my soul,” Kelce said on his New Heights podcast that he does with his brother Jason. “It’s like watching your best friend just turn evil on you.”

The fact that Brown ended up in Cincinnati only makes the loss sting more, even though Kelce does not blame his former teammate for taking the best offer available to him.

“It’s tough man. Obviously, I mean, the past two years we’ve struggled beating the Bengals. So there’s been a lot of like built up emotion of like … I would say, not necessarily hate but just like dislike towards the Bengals because they keep beating us, and they keep talking about it every time they do. So it’s like man, to see him go to the dark side man, it’s an awkward feeling. Obviously I hope that he has an absolute Hall of Fame career. You know what I mean? I wish nothing but the best for OB. He was an unbelievable leader. An unbelievable teammate on and off the field.”

Brown defecting is a tough loss for the Chiefs, but an even tougher loss for Kelce both on and off the field.