In 9 Seconds, KC Chiefs Tight End–and Taylor Swift Boyfriend–Travis Kelce Taught a Lesson in Protecting Your Team

Defensive end George Karlaftis tackled wide receiver Kadarius Toney at training camp. He shouldn’t have.

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In 9 Seconds, KC Chiefs Tight End–and Taylor Swift Boyfriend–Travis Kelce Taught a Lesson in Protecting Your TeamDefensive end George Karlaftis tackled wide receiver Kadarius Toney at training camp. He shouldn’t have.
EXPERT OPINION BY MINDA ZETLIN, AUTHOR OF ‘CAREER SELF-CARE: FIND YOUR HAPPINESS, SUCCESS, AND FULFILLMENT AT WORK’ @MINDAZETLIN
JUL 28, 2024
Travis Kelce.
Travis Kelce. Illustration: Inc; Photo: Getty Images
A local news network posted video to X of Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce yelling at and shoving a fellow team member during practice at the team’s training camp. Kelce is the most famous player in the NFL right now, not only for helping his team win the Super Bowl three times, but also for his year-old relationship with Taylor Swift. So of course, the incident inspired lots of headlines.

But Kelce was doing his job as he understood it, as a leader of the team. In particular, he was seeking to protect his teammates from harm as the Chiefs head into what they hope will be their third-in-a-row Super Bowl-winning season. It’s a reminder to every leader that there are times when a very strong reaction is called for. For example, any time someone or something threatens the safety of your team members.

That’s just what happened here. Kadarius Toney, a Chiefs wide receiver, caught a pass from quarterback Patrick Mahomes during a training camp practice and began running with it. The players were not wearing full protection, and they weren’t meant to be tackling each other hard. But defensive end George Karlaftis knocked Toney forcefully to the ground to the general disapproval of everyone watching. A furious Toney jumped up and threw the football at Karlaftis, narrowly missing his head.

The two players walked off in opposite directions. As head coach Andy Reid went over to Toney to talk with him, Kelce jogged over to Karlaftis. You can’t hear their exchange on the video, but it’s clear that Kelce was shouting at the defensive end. Then he gave Karlaftis a shove before each went their own way. Their interaction took less than 9 seconds.

Did Kelce lose his cool?
Now, Kelce is a famously emotional guy. He cries during interviews, dances with joy when he makes a successful play, and–yes–sometimes loses his temper. In fact, at last year’s training camp, he threw a punch at a fellow player who tried to knock the ball out of his hands. He famously got in head coach Andy Reid’s face during the Super Bowl and came close to knocking Reid off balance. Given his celebrity and his uber-famous girlfriend, not to mention his larger-than-life personality, Kelce is under pretty much constant scrutiny, so the video of him and Karlaftis got plenty of attention. Some commented that it was Kelce losing his cool all over again, and that it portended trouble to come during the rest of training camp.

It’s impossible to know what’s in another person’s mind or what motivated the 9-second encounter, but I believe those observers were wrong. I don’t think Kelce lost his temper. His body language as he trotted over was not that of someone in the grip of fury, but someone who has spotted a potential danger and is hurrying to mitigate it. And indeed, what Karlaftis did was very dangerous. Football is a hazardous enough game even when players wear their full padding. Throwing a teammate to the ground when they’re not fully protected is a great way to cause an injury, something Karlaftis should have known.

Toney can’t afford an injury right now. He was once a first-round draft pick for the New York Giants, but things didn’t go great with that team. The Chiefs acquired him in a trade two years ago, and things have continued to not go great. Though he’s a wide receiver, Reid has had Toney also train as a running back, and may be considering him for that position instead. Some speculate that the potential move results from Toney having dropped too many passes.

His long-term future in any position is uncertain. The Chiefs recently declined to add an extra year to his contract, which ends after the current season. So it’s fair to say that this year’s training camp could have big consequences for Toney’s football career.

Shutting down a threat.
Kelce knows all this, and he’s always been highly protective of his teammates, particularly his fellow offensive players. I believe he judged that Karlaftis posed a serious threat to his colleague and his team, and he took immediate action to show that behavior would not be tolerated. Most Chiefs fans seem to agree, going by their responses to some of the press accounts and the original video. The consensus seems to be that what Karlaftis did was very wrong, and that Kelce did right by letting him know it immediately and forcefully.

Kelce may think so too. When he’s lost his temper in public, he has often apologized publicly afterward. He did that after screaming at Reid, and also after last year’s training camp punch. This time, there’s been no such mea culpa.

If you’re a leader, there are times when you need to shut down a team member’s behavior fast, particularly if that behavior represents a threat to your organization, your other team members, or both. Karlaftis tackling Toney was both. And while punctuating your comments with a shove is completely unacceptable (not to mention illegal) in any other situation, in the context of an NFL training camp, where players routinely grab, push or even tackle each other, it may make some sense.

There’s a growing audience of Inc.com readers who receive a daily text from me with a self-care or motivational micro-challenge or tip. Often, they text me back and we wind up in a conversation. (Want to learn more? Here’s some information about the texts and a special invitation to a two-month free trial.) Many are entrepreneurs or business leaders, and they know how important it is to stand up for their team members right away whenever they’re threatened. That’s one thing a good leader always does.