Travis Kelce Reacts to Lakers' LeBron James Including Him on NFL TE Mount Rushmore
September 4, 2024
After LeBron James included him on the Mount Rushmore of NFL tight ends, Travis Kelce gave a shoutout to the Los Angeles Lakers star for the kind words.
On the latest episode of the New Heights podcast (starts at 19:17 mark), Kelce joked James naming him was because of "northeast Ohio, baby" since they were both born in that area.
Kelce then went on to say that he could be taken off the list and "it would still be the same" with the players James also named.
"Each checks the list," Kelce said. "All five of those guys, you could take me off of there and put those four up there, and it would still be the same list. I feel like the guys that have played before me helped make the league so that I could have the success I've had in the league. And that includes Gronk. That includes Tony (Gonzalez). That includes even Kellen Winslow Sr., who played back in, I think, like the '70s and '80s."
You'll notice that Kelce mentioned five players, even though Mount Rushmore famously only has the faces of four former Presidents carved into it.
James' list originally included Kelce, Gonzalez, Winslow and Shannon Sharpe. When he was asked about Rob Gronkowski, the four-time NBA MVP amended his list to put Gronk on it and dropped Gonzalez to an honorable mention.
DraftKings @DraftKingsLeBron on his Mt. Rushmore of NFL Tight Ends 👀 <a href="https://twitter.com/KingJames?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KingJames</a> <br><br>- Travis Kelce<br>- Kellen Winslow Sr.<br>- Shannon Sharpe<br>- Rob Gronkowski<br>- Tony Gonzalez (Honorable Mention) <a href="https://t.co/2U7uRcML0F">pic.twitter.com/2U7uRcML0F</a>
Whether the official list is four or five names deep, it's a good group selected by James that few people would complain about.
Gonzalez is the all-time leader for receiving yards among tight ends (15,127). Kelce (11,328), Sharpe (9,961) and Gronkowski (9,286). Winslow's 6,741 receiving yards looks extremely impressive when factoring in how pedestrian NFL passing games were during career.
Winslow played nine seasons from 1979 to '87. The highest average completion percentage by teams during that span was 56.9 percent in 1983. The highest average passing yards per game was 205.9 in 1984.
Kelce's consistency and longevity have made him a future Hall of Famer. The Kansas City Chiefs superstar had a streak of seven consecutive seasons with at least 1,000 yards from 2016 to '22. He finished 16 yards short of extending that streak to eight last season with 984 in 15 starts.