Fantasy Football’s Most Dangerous- Travis Kelce

                Travis Kelce is going to be a very dangerous player in fantasy football in 2015. However, it may not be for the best reasons. Kelce had a breakout year in 2014 and showed a ton of potential for the future. However, as a third year tight end with the Kansas City Chiefs, there is still a lot of question marks surrounding this guy. Only time will tell if he can manage to become a superstar or just another player that was over-hyped during the offseason.

In 2014 Kelce caught 67 passes for 862 yards and five touchdowns. He easily emerged as Alex Smith’s go-to receiver in all situations. His perfect mix of size and speed allow us to catch a glimpse of his excellent ability to pick up yards after the catch. His stats may not stand out amongst the many great tight ends in the NFL, but his play on the field certainly did.

However, this is the problem. Fantasy football is all about stats. Kelce appears to be one of those great football players who you have to watch in order to really see his abilities. You will not look at his statistics and see anything special. Of course, this could change after the 2015 season.

The question is how many opportunities will he get to improve on his 2014 numbers. The chiefs are definitely a team that focuses its offense around the run. In fact, it took over half a season before a wide receiver caught a touchdown last year. Unlike most NFL teams, the Chiefs actually tend to hand the ball off more often than not in the red zone. These goal line opportunities that normally favor large tight end are therefore negated by the ground and pound.

Another problem with the number of opportunities he will receiver is the new talent in the wide receiver corps. This offseason the Chiefs added the former Philadelphia Eagle Jeremy Maclin. Maclin is fresh off a season where he posted 1,318 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns. The team did not bring him in not to be a major factor in the offense. Many of those third down passes that would normally go to Kelce, will instead be thrown toward Maclin.

Aside from the addition of Maclin, we can also expect to see more of Jamaal Charles in 2015. Charles was hampered by a hamstring injury early in the season and never really returned to his 2013 form. However, with a full offseason of rest, it can be assumed that Charles will be used much more in 2015. Charles is a rare talent that not only excels as a runner, but is also an extremely dangerous weapon out of the backfield. Because of this, some of those short yardage throw that would go to Kelce, will definitely end up in the hands of the Chiefs’ star running back.

Travis Kelce has a number of things going against him, but he definitely has the talent to end up being a very value player in fantasy football. He is dangerous to fantasy football owners because of hype. Hype leads to drafting players too high. When a player gets drafted to high, a fantasy owner is sacrificing a better player at that pick.

Tight ends may be increasing in value each year in fantasy football, but that does not mean that they are any different than any other position when it comes to the draft. Fantasy owners still must weigh in all the factors surrounding a player based on their current roster and make a decision based on the value of a player. Sometimes it is best to just pass on a player’s potential in order to grab up a player who has a solid history of performance.

At this point in time there is simply too much risk involved with Kelce to say he is worth spending a high draft pick. Picking him early could definitely pan out for fantasy owners, but they would be risking getting a better player and possibly getting the Chiefs’ tight end a bit later. Do not put your fantasy roster in danger, make smart decision during the draft that are not based on hype.