There aren't many NFL safeties who can cover Travis Kelce man-to-man. The Philadelphia Eagles found that out the hard way Sunday night.
The Chiefs' superstar tight end beat Marcus Epps on an out-and-up to score Kansas City's first touchdown of Super Bowl LVII.
Moments later, former New England Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore chimed in with his opinion on Twitter. The Eagles, Gilmore said, can't hope to contain Kelce unless they cover him with one of their top two corners, Darius Slay or James Bradberry.
"You have to put a Slay or Bradberry on Kelce smh," the 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year tweeted.
Gilmore was speaking from experience. When the Patriots faced the Chiefs in the 2018 AFC Championship Game, they decided mid-game to have Gilmore cover Kelce, and he shut the KC standout down.
A closer rewatch of the touchdown, however, showed that Philly did try to deploy one of their premier cornerbacks against Kelce.
Slay initially lined up opposite him, but pre-snap motion from Kelce altered the Eagles' coverage assignments. Slay wound up running downfield with wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, leaving the less skilled Epps to track Kelce, who caught 110 passes for 1,338 yards and 12 touchdowns during the regular season.
The result was the 16th postseason touchdown reception of Kelce's career, pushing him past Rob Gronkowski and into sole possession of second place in NFL history. Only Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice has more (22).
