Eight catches, 69 yards, zero touchdowns. Those are Travis Kelce‘s numbers through three games of the 2024 NFL season as he struggles to find his way for the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs — who know they will need the future Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee in order to clinch a historic “three-peat”.

Sure, the Chiefs improved to 3-0 after defeating the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, with Kelce making a season-high four receptions. However, the tight end went viral for appearing rather sad during the first half, which some have speculated has to do with Kelce’s girlfriend, superstar singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, choosing not to attend the game.

Ex-ESPN analyst puts Kelce on blast

Kelce’s year-old romance with Swift has become a distraction according to former ESPN analyst Todd McShay, who thinks the Kelce of 2022 and the Kelce of 2024 could not be more different.

“Every show I watch, every pregame show, halftime show, postgame show, weekday show, every broadcast I watch for the last few weeks, it’s like are we not allowed to say that he’s out of shape, that he’s been partying all offseason? He’s been jet-setting around with the most famous person probably in the entire world, that he’s drinking, going to the U.S. Open,” McShay said Monday on “The Ryen Russillo Podcast“.

It’s no secret that Kelce’s public profile has grown tremendously in the year since he began dating Swift. Travis and his brother, retired NFL center Jason, recently closed a $100 million podcast deal with Amazon to produce and distribute their “New Heights” show, while the three-time Super Bowl champion has branched into acting with a role in the Ryan Murphy-produced horror series “Grotesquerie“. He is also set for a role in “Happy Gilmore 2“, Adam Sandler‘s sequel to his seminal 1996 comedy.

And over the summer, Kelce took in several of Swift’s Eras Tour shows — even participating in one of her many outfit changes during a concert at London‘s Wembley Stadium. He found it difficult to leave Swift, the Grammy-winning billionaire who currently has five albums in the top 40 of the Billboard 200.

Given Kelce’s track record of success and Hall of Fame-caliber career, the smart money remains on backing the 34-year-old to recover form sooner rather than later. But it’s clear that the clock is ticking for him to get back on track, especially before a huge divisional showdown with the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.

“Here’s the thing, bottom line with Kelce: The coverage and the respect he gets is the same, the athlete is not,” McShay said. “Now, is he going to work himself into shape during the season? Yeah, I’m sure he will. He’s an unbelievable competitor, he’s one of the best to ever do it and he still finds a way to make a play or two here and there and shows up in some clutch moments, but he’s not the same guy right now.”