Chiefs expecting bigger — and better — tight end Travis Kelce in 2015

It should come as no surprise the Chiefs have high expectations for Travis Kelce — he was their leading receiver in 2014, in what essentially amounted to his rookie season.

But Chiefs coach Andy Reid reiterated Tuesday that the 25-year-old Kelce, who caught 67 passes for 862 yards and five touchdowns, has not hit his ceiling yet.

“You’d think the natural progression would be even more and better, and he was pretty good last year,” Reid said. “He’s tremendously talented, loves to play the game. He’s like a little kid out there. He loves to play.”

Reid said the Chiefs “probably” would not have moved on from veteran Anthony Fasano, a steady blocker and reliable receiver who was released in March, like they did if they didn’t feel comfortable with Kelce’s ability to assume the workload, even though he played a lot anyway because the Chiefs used multiple two-tight end sets last year.,

“You obviously take that into consideration,” Reid said. “I think (general manager John Dorsey) looked at everything. That’s probably how he felt.”

Kelce still has room to improve, however. One area is knows he must continue to build on is his knowledge of the playbook and understanding of the concepts within Reid’s West Coast offense.

“You could see the progress every week in a positive direction,” Reid said. “We kept adding to his menu there, so the plays we wanted to dial up in formations and motions, the running backs and tight ends, they have to know what they’re doing with those. So he continually got better with that as time went on.”

Reid also said Kelce, who is listed at 6-feet-5 and 260 pounds, played at a lighter weight than that last season, about 250 pounds, and could see an improvement in his inline blocking at a heavier weight.

“He has a good feel for (chip blocks), kind of a knack for it,” Reid said. “And he got better (as a blocker) at the line of scrimmage … he’s played as high as 265 pounds at the college level, where I considered him a pretty good blocker. So he can function even with a little more weight added.”

Reid added that Kelce has been diligent about this process this offseason.

“He’s one of those guys that’s been working out,” Reid said. “The players can come in and lift on their own, and he’s been in there every day. He lives in Kansas City. He’s been working his tail off.”

This story was originally published March 24, 2015 at 6:56 PM with the headline "Chiefs expecting bigger — and better — tight end Travis Kelce in 2015."