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Patrick Mahomes Reflects On Travis Kelce's 'Special' Career After Breaking Chiefs' Record

The Mahomes-Kelce duo will go down in Kansas City history.

Eva Geitheim

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce. / Barry Reeger-Imagn Images
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Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce continued to cement himself as an all-time franchise great when he broke the Chiefs' career receiving touchdowns record. Kelce caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the fourth quarter of the Chiefs' 29-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, a touchdown that officially broke Tony Gonzalez's previous record of 76 career touchdowns with the franchise.

"He's done so much for this organization, on and off the field," Mahomes said of Kelce after the game. "For him to have the career that he's had is special. I know at the end of the day he wants to win the ring more than anything, but it's awesome that he can have that accomplishment."

The record surprisingly took 17 weeks into the 2024 season to break. Kelce came into the season with 74 career receiving touchdowns, but just caught his third touchdown of the season in the win on Wednesday. Mahomes had hoped for Kelce to break the record at home at Arrowhead Stadium, but this was Kelce's first touchdown since Nov. 10. Kelce did get to tie Gonzalez's receiving touchdown record at home.

"I was extremely excited," Mahomes told the media after the game. "I've been trying to get him a touchdown for the last few weeks and I wanted to do it at Arrowhead ... I'm happy that we got it done in the regular season, and now we can just play football."

Kelce is now the Chiefs' all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns, having passed Gonzalez in all three categories, earning the Hall of Fame tight end's respect along the way. Over his 12-year NFL career, Kelce has caught 1,004 passes for 12,151 yards and 77 touchdowns. Gonzalez does have more receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns overall in his career, but a bulk of that production came from his time with the Atlanta Falcons.

Gonzalez remains the NFL all-time leader among tight ends in both receptions (1,325) and receiving yards (15,127) over the entirety of his career. The all-time receiving touchdowns leader among tight ends is Antonio Gates, who caught 116 touchdowns over his career. Kelce ranks third in career receptions and receiving yards among tight ends, and fifth in touchdowns. Though he is already a sure-fire Hall of Famer and undoubtedly one of the greatest tight ends in NFL history, he does have a long ways to go before he approaches either Gonzalez's or Gates's records.

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Eva Geitheim
EVA GEITHEIM

Eva Geitheim is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in December 2024, she wrote for Newsweek, Gymnastics Now and Dodgers Nation. A Bay Area native, she has a bachelor's in communications from UCLA. When not writing, she can be found baking or re-watching Gilmore Girls.

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