Travis Kelce reflects on ‘bad interviews’ at NFL Combine including telling team to ‘probably go somewhere else’

TRAVIS Kelce has recalled how his Hall of Fame-worthy NFL career got off to a rocky start.

Selected in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, the star tight end, 34, seemingly didn't make the best of impressions during all of his interviews at the Combine.

With the Combine currently ongoing in Indianapolis, a clip from Travis' New Heights podcast, which he co-hosts with his brother and Philadelphia Eagles center Jason, in which they discuss the interview process, has resurfaced on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"At the combine, I had some bad interviews," Travis recalled in March 2023.

"The [Dallas] Cowboys were kind of pressing me about me having this red flag of missing a year and smoking weed."

In 2010, while a member of the Cincinnati Bearcats, Travis was forced to miss the season after he tested positive for marijuana.

"I don't know if I was having a bad morning or what was going on but I basically was just... I don't even know if I want to say this - it ended really fast," he continued.

"That meeting ended really fast. And they're typically 15 minutes long, and I was in there for about five minutes.

"I basically just said, 'If you guys think I'm, you know, gonna be that kind of guy or you're questioning if I'm still that person after everything that I've kind of battled through to get to where I am now from missing a season, then you guys probably go somewhere else and pick somebody else,' and that is exactly what they did."

The Cowboys wound up selecting tight end Gavin Escobar out of San Diego State in the second round.

After four seasons in Dallas, he went on to bounce around the league for two years, spending time with the Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins, and the Chiefs.

Escobar last suited up for the San Diego Fleet in the Alliance of American Football spring league.

Tragically, he died in a rock climbing accident in September 2022, as per CBS News.

"[The Cowboys] were trying to find the [successor] for Jason Witten. Yeah, and I botched that interview," Travis said

He went on to add, "Not to say that they didn't think Gavin was a better player going into that interview.

"Who knows what it really was? But I know I didn't help myself with that. All the other meetings I stayed a full 15 minutes."

But even though Travis' interview with the Chiefs (presumably) lasted the full 15 minutes, he seemingly didn't leave the discussion full of hope.

"Honestly, it didn't even feel like they were really interviewing me," he admitted.

"It felt like everybody knew you (Jason) so well that it was just like, 'Alright, let's just interview the family member.'

"It was almost like I was just in a room, chopping it up with like, my extended family about football. You know what I mean?

"It didn't even feel like it was a real interview. And so I left that room like, 'The Chiefs don't want me. They were just because I was one of their favorite guy's little brother,' you know?

"Little did I know they were looking for a tight end."

Drafted by general manager John Dorsey and head coach Andy Reid, who had just left the Eagles where he'd also drafted Jason, Travis only played one snap as a rookie due to injury.

In 2014, following the retirement of Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez, Travis took on the starting role.

Since then, he has gone on to forge one of the most impressive careers by a tight end in league history.

A nine-time Pro Bowler, Travis has also been named a First-Team All-Pro four times, a Second-Team All-Pro three times, and won three Super Bowls.