Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is developing quite the reputation as a hothead, and as a result he’s becoming accustomed to dropping some cash into the NFL’s swear jar.
Following a couple of incidents that occurred during and after the Chiefs’ devastating loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday night, Kelce has been fined a total $21,615, per ESPN’s Adam Teicher.
The first incident involved Kelce straight-up shoving Steelers defensive back Ross Cockrell to the ground after a play (watch the dirty play here). Frustrated after a couple of drops cost his team a chance to score a touchdown, Kelce lost his composure, which shouldn’t surprise anyone.
The second incident occurred after the game. Upset about a holding call on Eric Fisher on the play that negated what would have been the game-tying two-point conversion, Kelce laid into the ref who made the call.
“Ref No. 51 [Cheffers] shouldn’t even be able to wear a zebra jersey ever again,” Kelce said after the game. “He shouldn’t even be able to work at f—ing Foot Locker.
“For it to end like that, with the referee literally taking it out of our hands, that hurts,” he said. “You try to play this game with integrity, to the end of the whistle, and when the refs want to take over the game and make it their own platform, there’s nothing you can do about it. That wasn’t a hold on my guy Eric Fisher. I hope [Fisher] doesn’t go the entire offseason thinking it was his fault. That was horse—-, flat out.”
Needless to say, the NFL wasn’t keen on Kelce letting loose like that. Furthermore, while nobody wants to see a game decided on a penalty, there is no doubt that Fisher held James Harrison on the play. And if he had not, Alex Smith wouldn’t have had time to complete the pass in the first place.
Kelce, who had some incidents on the field last year that resulted in fines and penalties, also was ejected in a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier this year. He was upset about a penalty (gasp!) and threw his towel at an official in anger (watch here). That incident also resulted in a fine, and if Kelce doesn’t watch it he’s going to enter Odell Beckham Jr. territory as one of the NFL’s targeted troublemakers.