The Artistry of Travis Kelce's Adlib Route Running Has Hit New Heights

Travis Kelce's freestyle route running has been impeccable this season and the Chiefs are fully weaponizing it.

The Kansas City Chiefs beat their biggest division rival - in recent years - with a 31-17 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chiefs’ offense appeared to get back into a groove in the first half of the game firing on all cylinders. They faced some pushback thanks to a some good in-game adjustments by the Chargers’ defensive coaching staff in the second half, but it turns out the Chiefs first half scoring output of 24 would have been enough to win the game.

While the entire offense was clicking in the first half, it was certainly spearheaded by an insane performance from the Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce pairing. Mahomes went 20-23 for 321 yards and 3 Touchdowns in the first half while Kelce hauled in 12 of those 20 receptions for 143 yards. The duo was unstoppable in the first half and Mahomes did a great job using that connection to help free up other receivers when necessary.

It’s not incomprehensible that the Chiefs found success with the Mahomes → Kelce connection - it’s really good oddly enough - but more so how they were doing it. Anyone that has watched the Chiefs know these two see the field very similarly and will frequently adjust routes based on coverage. It’s not new for the Chiefs or the NFL even if they do it better than any other duo in the history of the game. What’s been interesting the past few weeks is how often the Chiefs are leaning into this sort of “adlib route running” and instead of just letting it happen within the flow of the play, they seem to be leaning into it as part of their primary offensive attack.

The Adlib Route Running Artistry

The overall principle is very simple here, when a receiver - in this case Travis Kelce - is running a route, he is looking at the defenders and trying to determine their coverage responsibilities and leverage. If his designed route is going to be taken away in the play, he has the freedom to alter his route to something entirely different or on a different angle to produce a throwing window.

It’s simple enough to explain but in practice, very few players can pull this off. Not only does Kelce need an intimate understanding of defensive structure but also has to know tendencies of the team he is playing, have the ability to read the leverage and play in real time, know his entire team’s offensive play concept, and has to be as close to “in rhythm” as the play design as possible.