KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Alex Smith played with hundreds, maybe thousands, of teammates during his 14-year career as an NFL quarterback. None, he said, was quite like Travis Kelce.
"If I had to make a team from those guys of the teammates I remember and will always remember, Travis is absolutely first-team on that list," said Smith, who retired in 2020. "He's in the huddle. Travis is a guy who gives energy. Every interaction with him you like. You always feel better after talking to him.
"There aren't many teammates you would say that about. Some relationships are so unique. Some people are so magnetic and you love being around them, and Travis is one of those guys."
Smith isn't the only teammate to feel that way about the 35-year-old Kansas City Chiefs tight end. Others describe him as what most might expect -- a bold, larger-than-life personality.
"He's pumping us up every time we're walking out on the field, [like], 'Let's go boys, let's go,'" said linebacker Leo Chenal, now in his third season with the Chiefs. "Every time somebody makes a play, he'll call him out specifically or go on the side after a play: 'That's great, that's great. Keep it going, keep it going.'
"He's so personable, but at the same time he's a great leader."
The emotional, boisterous side of Kelce is the one most obvious to fans, after he scores a touchdown or makes a clutch play. Kelce, a 10-time Pro Bowler and four-time choice for first-team All-Pro, is sure to go down as one of the greatest tight ends of all time. He's third among players at his position in career catches (1,004) and yards (12,151). He also carried the passing game with seven catches for 117 yards and a touchdown against the Houston Texans in the divisional round to help the Chiefs to their seventh straight AFC title game against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET, CBS).
But that's one side to Kelce. There's another side only those in the football world see. Kelce is quick to console someone who lost a fumble. If a teammate is running late, he'll stay behind and wait for them. He's the first one to welcome new guys, like when he texted rookie offensive lineman Kingsley Suamataia after the Chiefs drafted him in the second round last April, somebody he didn't know at the time. If he sees someone struggling on or off the field, he's there to put his arm around their shoulder.
"I've always thought sports are the ultimate hangout with friends," said Kelce, adding he has close friends from all of his sports teams, going back to when he was a kid. "So I just want to make sure I bring the energy every day. I like to come here and have fun."
THE NIGHT BEFORE every home game, the Chiefs stay in a local hotel. Players are required to arrive by a certain time or be subject to fines.
But one night before a game, when it became apparent that then-Chiefs running back Charcandrick West wasn't going to make it on time because he was stuck in traffic, he called Kelce. The tight end, who was already at the hotel, told him to just get there as quickly as possible.
When West finally arrived, several minutes late, there was one guy waiting for him out front: Kelce.
"He didn't want me to be the only one to get into trouble for being late," said West, who played for the Chiefs 2014-2018.
He said the Chiefs didn't fine him for his tardiness, adding, "I guess if you're going to be late, you want to be late with Trav."
Kelce couldn't remember whether he was fined for being late with West, saying, "I've been fined so many times for things that I can't remember what they were for."
As for waiting outside for West, Kelce said that's part of being a good teammate.
"Sometimes you just need somebody to be there with you even if you feel like you're doing something wrong," Kelce said.
Early in his career, Kelce lost a fumble late in a game against the Arizona Cardinals that cost the Chiefs a chance at a victory. At the time, the Chiefs were driving for a potential tying or winning score but wound up losing by three points.
Kelce remembers the lonely feeling afterward. So when West, making his first NFL start in 2015, lost a fumble in a similar situation against the Minnesota Vikings, Kelce sought him out after they returned to Kansas City.
"We sat and talked," West said. "I told him, 'I lost the game for us.' I was really down about it. But he wouldn't let me stay down. He told me that things like that happened to everyone. He told me I would help the Chiefs win a lot of games."
The next week, West had his first 100-yard game and scored his first touchdown. The Chiefs won the first of 11 straight games and West went on to lead them in rushing that season.
"He was a big morale boost for me," West said. "He made sure I didn't lose confidence in myself. I don't know what would have happened without Travis."
THOSE WHO HAVE played with Kelce find it difficult to describe exactly what it's like.
"Let's see if I can do it justice," said Smith, who played five seasons with Kelce with the Chiefs before being traded to Washington in 2018.
"It was always the small things with Travis," Smith said. "The ribbings, the jokes, the smiles. But it was also the realness. I know people can boil football down to a boys' game, which it is. But when you get to the NFL, it's hard. It's stressful. The games mean so much. It's rare to find people unaffected by all that stress. He was one of those guys, and by being who he is, he helped everyone around him.
"He was always so comfortable in his own skin. That was great as a teammate because he made everybody else comfortable. He enjoys coming to work, and that's infectious."
Fans might see Kelce jetting off to a Taylor Swift concert or other events, but they don't see the time he puts in on football, Smith said.
He pointed to the freedom coach Andy Reid gives Kelce to improvise on routes depending on what he might see from the defensive coverage. The most famous example came in the 13-second sequence late in the fourth quarter of the divisional round playoff game against the Bills three years ago, when Kelce altered his route against zone coverage to find a seam for a 25-yard gain that set up the tying field goal.
The Chiefs went on to win in overtime on a Kelce touchdown catch.
"You won't find a tight end, maybe in history, that has a bigger leash on route running than Andy gives him," Smith said. "He empowered Travis to do that, but he earned it. He studied and put in his time and he earned it. Look at how crafty he's always been. That only comes with preparation and work. Some of the stuff he does looks backyard-, recess-type stuff, but it's not. There was a method to the madness. The only way Travis is the player he is is because he understands all the nuances."
Linebacker Drue Tranquill, who joined the Chiefs in 2023, said he never came across a player like Kelce in his four prior seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers. Kelce routinely quizzes him on the practice field about coverages and what he might have seen that led him to defend a particular route a certain way.
"Little aspects of the game still strike his curiosity," Tranquill said.
Smith was replaced as the Chiefs' quarterback by Patrick Mahomes, who was the backup for one season as a rookie in 2017. By the time the Chiefs traded Smith, Kelce and Mahomes had become close. But Kelce took it hard when Smith was traded.
"I wanted to get [a Super Bowl] for Alex," Kelce said. "He was such a leader to me, showed me how to do it the right way. I wanted to go out and get one for him or at least keep fighting for him. I felt guilty I wasn't able to get one for him.
"At the same time, everybody knew what we had in Pat. I was excited about having a new wave of energy and excitement in the offense, a guy with a big arm, a guy that could do it all."
Kelce, who is still close to Smith, went on to quickly build rapport and chemistry with Smith's successor. He set what at the time were career highs in catches (103), yards (1,336) and touchdowns (10) in 2018, Mahomes' first season as the starter.
Mahomes described Kelce as a teammate in much the same terms Smith did. He said Kelce is at the Chiefs' practice facility in the offseason more than he expected, given Kelce's many offseason projects.
"It's always helped me that he practices as hard as he does and he plays as hard as he does and does all the small things because it lets me be able to get the best out of all the young players," Mahomes said.
RUNNING BACK CLYDE EDWARDS-HELAIRE remembers meeting Kelce for the first time at the start of training camp in 2020, shortly after he was drafted by the Chiefs. That was the NFL's COVID-19 season, so players had to wear tracking devices that monitored close contact.
Kelce approached Edwards-Helaire and introduced himself, and the two began talking. Soon, their tracking devices started beeping loudly, indicating the two were in close contact for longer than the rules allowed.
Kelce took off his monitor, grabbed Edwards-Helaire's monitor and tossed them both into his locker. The two continued their conversation, the monitors still chirping loudly.
"If a piece of grass can have a personality, Travis can make friends with it," said Edwards-Helaire, who was released in December after playing four years with the Chiefs. "He's open-minded with everything, loves everybody, sees a person for a person."
Edwards-Helaire came to the Chiefs after an incident in college when an LSU football player fatally shot an 18-year-old man who was trying to rob him and a teammate, according to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police. The police didn't identify the two players, but The Associated Press reported that Edwards-Helaire was one of them.
Edwards-Helaire said the incident caused him to go through bouts of severe PTSD. He occasionally missed practice with the Chiefs and went on the injured reserve list early this season because of it. He credits Kelce as one of the people who helped pull him through. Kelce was the one, he said, who could tell when he was struggling.
Similar to the West situation against the Vikings, Edwards-Helaire lost a fumble late in a 2021 game against the Baltimore Ravens with the Chiefs down by one point and driving toward the go-ahead score. The Chiefs wound up losing.
Again, it was Kelce who picked up his teammate.
"That was one of those times when he put his arm around me and told me I was still a valuable player on the team, and I would still help the team win games," Edwards-Helaire said. "That meant a lot to me. He's the guy that will pull you to the side and let you know you're doing some amazing things."
Kelce's impact in the Chiefs' locker room is evident, although he takes on a more modest tone.
"I think so," Kelce said when asked whether everyone he has played with since joining the Chiefs would call him a good teammate. "I hope so. That's one of the things I like to pride myself on. I don't know too many enemies I've come across in this building."
Edwards-Helaire was a free agent last summer and re-signed with the Chiefs. Remaining Kelce's teammate was as important a reason for returning to the Chiefs as anything else, he said.
"He's someone that's been in my corner and picked me up from my lowest of lows," Edwards-Helaire said. "When I was at my highest of highs, he's trying to put a rocket on my back."
