Amid rumors of 'off-field baggage,' the 49ers passed on Travis Kelce

A year-long suspension and injuries may have turned the San Francisco 49ers away from one of the greatest tight ends in NFL history: their Super Bowl opponent Travis Kelce.

Entering the 2013 NFL Draft, the 49ers were seeking replacements for outgoing tight end Delanie Walker and longtime star Vernon Davis, who was nearing the end of his career in San Francisco. Among their top options was a controversial Cincinnati Bearcats player named Travis Kelce. His NFL draft profile called him “athletic for his size, with great strength, and the ability to stretch the field vertically.”

“He isn’t a tremendous athlete, but he does a lot of things very well,” the profile noted. Then, under the “weaknesses” category, it listed this ominous phrase: “suspended for an entire season for violating team rules.”

In 2010, Kelce was handed a suspension for the entity of his sophomore season. The Bearcats refused to disclose why. “That’s all we’re going to comment on,” head coach Butch Jones told media at the time. Kelce returned the next year and racked up 10 touchdowns in two seasons for Cincinnati.

In the days leading up to the draft, this drama came up time and again. The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote that “the stigma” of his suspension stuck in the minds of scouts, although ESPN’s Mel Kiper said that despite his “off-the-field issues … he might be the best blocker” among the draft-eligible tight ends. One CBS Sports draft analyst noted his “off-field baggage” as a concern, and an anonymous NFL scout reportedly told Pro Football Weekly that Kelce was “a train wreck character-wise.”

Still recovering from a hernia incurred his senior year, Kelce did private team workouts leading up to draft day. In April, he made a visit to the 49ers, the Sacramento Bee reported. For a while, his name was very much in the conversation, projected to be drafted in the second round. “The combination of this injury and some past character concerns will have some teams shying away, making him the kind of player the 49ers might draft,” fan blog Niners Nation wrote.

He wasn’t. With the 55th pick in the draft, the 49ers took Rice tight end Vance McDonald. Eight picks later, Kelce went in the third round to the Kansas City Chiefs.

After he was drafted, Kelce went on a media conference call and revealed publicly for the first time that his year-long suspension had been over a positive marijuana test. “A one-time thing,” he said. “I haven’t touched it since.” He also called himself a “clean-cut guy” who was “going to give the organization everything I can.”

A season-long suspension for a little weed now seems incredibly archaic, and the episode certainly had no bearing on Kelce’s professional career. He is only the fifth tight end in NFL history to record 10,000 career receiving yards, and he recently overtook Jerry Rice for most career playoff receptions. He’s won the Super Bowl twice.

McDonald played four seasons for San Francisco, never recording more than four touchdowns in a single season. In 2017, the Niners traded him to the Pittsburgh Steelers. He retired in 2021 after eight seasons in the NFL.