Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce says getting suspended for marijuana use in college may have been the turning point that led to his NFL success.
Kelce, now a three-time Super Bowl champion and one of the NFL’s most recognizable figures, was sidelined for the entire 2010 season at the University of Cincinnati after testing positive for marijuana. But in a recent episode of the New Heights podcast with his brother Jason Kelce, the 35-year-old tight end said the incident ultimately helped reshape his future.
“You probably got drafted an entire round later than you should have,” Jason said, noting that some NFL teams passed on Travis due to concerns about the marijuana suspension. “You just had a mess up with weed. Sorry. And then all of a sudden, teams aren’t picking you for it.”
Jason, a former Philadelphia Eagles center, pointed out the hypocrisy in how some teams treated the issue: “We’re gonna act like this is a death sentence?” he asked, referencing how common marijuana use is among today’s NFL players.
While Travis responded with a laugh, he later acknowledged that the suspension forced him to take life more seriously. “I had guidelines I had to go through,” he recalled on another podcast last year. “And it created routine and structure in my life that I hadn’t taken serious up until that point.”
That shift included a position change from quarterback to tight end—a move that ultimately defined his career.
Despite the draft setback, Kelce was selected in the third round by the Chiefs after Jason vouched for him directly to then-new head coach Andy Reid. “I’m forever in debt to this guy,” Travis said earlier this year of his brother, who also let him live with him during the low point of his college career.
Now a household name, Kelce looks back on his early misstep not with regret, but with perspective. “Just goes to show you,” he joked during his Saturday Night Live monologue, “if you’re bad at school and smoke weed, you can win the Super Bowl twice.”
