Travis Kelce Estimates That 50% to 80% of NFL Players Use Cannabis

A lot has changed since the league changed the drug testing policy in 2021.

Travis Kelce is currently on top of the world this summer. The eight-time Pro Bowler is still celebrating his second Super Bowl win from February and is enjoying the newfound success that his and his brother Jason’s podcast, New Heights, has found. But it wasn’t always like this. 

During an interview with Vanity Fair, Kelce was emotional recalling some of his more turbulent days. His lowest moment was in 2010 when he was suspended for a year while playing for Cincinnati in college. He had failed a drug test after smoking marijuana and was devastated—but such punishments are a thing of the past now. Not because players like him stopped using the drug, but because of the change in rules. 

Since 2021, players are tested during only a two-week window at the start of training camp in the summer, and Kelce estimates that now about 50% to 80% of players use cannabis. 

“If you just stop in the middle of July, you’re fine,” he told Vanity Fair. “A lot of guys stop a week before and they still pass because everybody’s working out in the heat and sweating their tail off. Nobody’s really getting hit for it anymore.” 

Kelce is coming off his seventh season in a row when he was selected All-Pro after tallying 1,338 receiving yards and 12 touchdown passes.