Chiefs’ Travis Kelce puts an emphasis on ball security as he assumes top tight end role

Following his breakout sophomore campaign in 2014, Travis Kelce’s offseason “to-do” list was quite simple.

The first thing was to gain weight. He’d be assuming the role of the Chiefs’ No. 1 tight end following the release of Anthony Fasano. That meant he’d be on the field more, and the extra weight would help him as an inline blocker. He’s made good progress here; he says he now weighs 255 pounds, up from around 250, and has a goal of 260 by training camp.

The second was to improve his understanding of coach Andy Reid’s voluminous playbook. Kelce says he studied film this offseason, but this is an ongoing process, something that will only improve with more reps — which he’s getting thus far.

“He’s got a good grasp of things,” Reid said. “When we go double tights, we play him in a few different positions. When we go with three tight ends, we move him around in different spots, so he’s handling all that pretty well.”

But the third thing on Kelce’s list was to improve ball security. He fumbled four times last season, which tied New York Giants tight end Larry Donnell for the most in the league among receivers or tight ends, and he lost three of them.

Needless to say, it was made clear to Kelce that fumbles are not acceptable.

“Keeping it high and tight,” Reid said, when asked what Kelce has done to improve in this area. “He’s aware. He knows.”

Kelce produced many highlights last season, when he led the Chiefs with 67 receptions, 862 receiving yards and five touchdown catches and electrified fans with his athleticism and assortment of celebratory dances.

But he is still a young player at 25 years old, which means there were some learning moments, too. For instance, two of his three lost fumbles led to points for opposing teams in victories (against Seattle and Oakland), while the one that didn’t lead to points hurt even worse.

That one came in the Chiefs’ 17-14 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Dec. 7. Trailing by three, the Chiefs had been driving when Kelce made a 19-yard catch and run that seemed to give the Chiefs the ball at the Cardinals’ 22 with 5:23 left.

Only, it didn’t. The ball came loose near the end of the run, and even the Cardinals nearby didn’t react like it was a fumble, Arizona coach Bruce Arians tossed the red challenge flag anyway.

Kelce thought it was a crazy challenge, but refs ruled it a fumble, and Arizona managed to hang on.

He now wants to make sure he never puts himself, or his team, in that situation again.

“First and foremost, it’s a psychological issue and it’s mental concentration — that’s all it is,” Kelce said of his ball security. “We’re all big enough and strong enough to hold onto to the ball, it’s just whether or not you want to focus in on it.

“In certain situations, you have to be able to be more conscious of ball security than you do in the open field … just watching last year’s film, watching games … even when I didn’t fumble, watching how I was holding the ball, seeing how I got careless with it at times.”

One way Kelce has been working on this during organized team activities is by keeping it high and tight after the catch, just like he was told.

“Whenever you catch a ball, just see it all the way into the tuck,” Kelce said. “(Do it) whenever you’re holding the ball, every single time you’re playing catch … even if you’re just walking around. I mean heck, I was walking around the house with the ball (doing it).”

Kelce said running back coach Eric Bieniemy was also talking about getting him a sand-filled weighted ball that he can carry around during his personal time, just like some running backs use.

“What that does is it forms a habit, and when you catch the ball, you have a natural pocket right there (where) you’re comfortable holding the ball,” Kelce said.

Provided his hard work pays off — and really, he won’t see the fruits of his labor in this area until the pads come on — there’s little reason to think Kelce cannot take a significant step forward this season as he slides into Fasano’s spot as the Chiefs’ top tight end.

After all, Kelce was one of the more prolific tight ends in the NFL last year — he had the sixth-most catches among players at the position, despite ranking 23rd in snaps played at the position according to Pro Football Focus — and could thrive with a bigger workload.

“I come in and I take the role — it’s as simple as that,” Kelce said. “It’s not a hidden secret or anything like that. I am probably the most comfortable in the offense for being on the field for an entire year.”

The Chiefs could lean on Kelce, too. The other four tight ends on the roster (Demetrius Harris, Richard Gordon, Ryan Taylor and James O’Shaughnessy) only caught a combined three passes for 20 yards in 26 total games in 2014, and Harris has missed the entirety of OTAs after undergoing additional foot surgery.

“We have Richard Gordon, who is a vet who, knows a lot and understands the game very well, and we’ll go from there, but it’s clearly my realm now,” Kelce said. “I am going to go ahead and take the bull by the horns and lead us to success.”

This story was originally published June 4, 2015 at 4:12 PM with the headline "Chiefs’ Travis Kelce puts an emphasis on ball security as he assumes top tight end role."