Patrick Mahomes Reveals How Travis Kelce's New Level of Fame Has Affected Him

Travis Kelce seems well on his way to becoming an A-list celebrity, as the Kansas City Chiefs tight end has seen his star rise considerably in the past year. In March 2023, Kelce made his debut at Studio 8H to host Saturday Night Live, and then months later began dating Taylor Swift; arguably one of the biggest celebrities on the planet.

Part of Kelce's appeal seems to be that he's a down-to-earth man of the people—a quality he shares with his older brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce—and as his teammate Patrick Mahomes explained, fame hasn't changed that.

“Travis has always been Travis,” Mahomes said during a press conference on Wednesday, when asked about Kelce's sudden celebrity. "At the end of the day, it’s been cool to watch for me because obviously he has all that attention but he’s just been himself the whole time. He’s still Travis Kelce. He still will walk through the stadium and treat every single person like they’re his best friend. And he’s going to be like that in the locker room every single day. It hasn’t been any different."

"I come to the building every single day, and I've been lucky enough that I a lot of great players around me, and Travis is one of them," the star quarterback continued.

The reporter then asked a follow-up question about Kelce's SNL hosting gig, which Mahomes said was "really, really cool," even though he couldn't make it to the live show because he was a groomsman in a wedding that weekend.

Related: Travis Kelce Calls Buffalo Fans 'Disrespectful' for Treatment of Taylor Swift, Patrick Mahomes

"Being able to watch that, I know it was a dream of his. He knows all the skits from guys that were on Saturday Night Live," Mahomes explained, of Kelce's well-known obsession with comedians such as Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, and Chris Farley. "He was telling me the ones from before I was even born. I was like, ‘Trav, I’m not the same age as you, I don’t even know what that is.'"

"It's definitely something that [was] a goal of his, to just be on the show—but to be able to host it—and he crushed it, man," he added. "That's something that hopefully, longer down the line ... he'll be able to more of that type of stuff after he's done playing football."

While Kelce likely has a few more years left in him on the field, his business managers have been working tirelessly behind the scenes for about a decade now to make the NFL star "as famous as the Rock" for the better part of a decade. And suffice to say, the strategy seems to be paying off.