The narrative often surrounding the end of a regular season for most players is ensuring their individual goals are met without hurting the ultimate team plans. The Kansas City Chiefs had two players with very different goals in their sights ahead of Sunday’s victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 18.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid allowed Pro Bowler Chris Jones to play and succeed in securing his 10.5 sacks on the season to clinch a contract incentive worth over one million dollars. During the postgame press conference, he revealed that tight end Travis Kelce opted not to try to get 16 yards to reach 1,000 yards on the season and continue his iconic streak.
“He is a humble, humble guy,” Reid explained. “It’s different because of the financial part of it with Chris (Jones). He didn’t want to be selfish or come across as selfish. All the players want him to play, but he just goes, ‘You know what? I don’t like the way it feels. He’s not into that. He chose not to play, and I completely understand it. But that’s him. Most guys would have gone out and probably done it, but he said, ‘I’ve got a lot of records on this one here; I’m not going to do it this way.”
Kelce’s decision was a team-first move to avoid the risk of injury in a game that did not affect the postseason. The Chiefs dealt with several injuries during the game, most notably on the offensive line with tackles Jawaan Taylor and Wanya Morris.
