Who Should I Start? Travis Kelce or Michael Mayer

Tuesday, June 11, 4:10 PM

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is a three-time Super Bowl Champion and nine-time Pro Bowler, and retirement rumors have picked up steam over the last two offseasons. However, the 34-year-old is not putting a timeline on the end of his career, and he signed a two-year extension this offseason. "I really can't put a timeframe on (retirement)," Kelce said. "I love coming to work every single day. I know there's opportunities for me outside of football. I'm going to keep going until the wheels fall off. Hopefully, that doesn't happen anytime soon." For what it's worth, Kelce sits over 3,000 yards shy of passing Tony Gonzalez for the most receiving yards ever by a tight end, so he could be chasing that mark. Kelce's 984 receiving yards in 2023 were his fewest in a single season since 2015, yet he still finished second among all tight ends. The future Hall-of-Famer and clear top-five tight end of all time could fall off a cliff in production at any moment, but for now, he remains an elite player at the position. All that said, he is no longer the consensus TE1 in fantasy football thanks to emerging pass-catchers like Sam LaPorta and Trey McBride.

Monday, July 8, 2:25 PM

The Athletic's Vic Tafur writes that it's the Las Vegas Raiders' plan to use more two-tight end sets this year involving rookie first-rounder Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer, who was a second-round selection in 2023. In addition, the Raiders will line up Bowers out wide and behind the quarterback at times to give the defense unique looks. It's not that the Raiders suddenly don't like Mayer now after drafting Bowers in the first round, but they just thought they couldn't pass up on Bowers' explosiveness and even turned down a team trying to trade up for him. While Mayer will still have a role in the offense in his second NFL season, he's going to take a back seat to Bowers in 2024 and will go undrafted in standard 12-team fantasy leagues this fall. Bowers, meanwhile has the potential for a Sam LaPorta-like season in his rookie campaign.