Did Travis Kelce get suspended for drug use?

Travis Kelce was born to play in the NFL and to many he’s considered to be one of the greatest tight ends of all time. But that very nearly wasn’t the case thanks to a mishap that happened very early in his career involving the devil’s lettuce which could have altered the course of his life forever.

Football runs deep in the Kelce family’s blood, what with both Travis and his brother Jason both becoming incredibly successful players. From a very young age, Travis excelled in the sport and went on to receive a scholarship at the University of Cincinnati. Whilst all appeared to be going well for the up-and-coming quarterback (the position he was playing in at the time) in 2010, his sophomore year, he’d find himself suspended from playing. Speaking on the Bussin with the Boys podcast back in 2023 Kelce spoke about getting kicked out of college, “I partied a little too much down there, got hit with a drug test, and from that point on I realised I got to tighten up.”

Travis Kelce suspension explained

The reason given for his expulsion was due to him testing positive for cannabis. Drugs are taken pretty seriously in the world of American football and all players usually receive an annual test which is primarily to stop the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Whilst cannabis doesn’t necessarily improve performance it’s still a substance players should avoid. 

The effects of the suspension

This led to Travis losing his scholarship and a year-long suspension from playing in which the footballer began to wonder if he’d ended his career before it had even begun. The whole ordeal obviously affected Kelce pretty badly and so with nothing to lose he joined a baseball league. Apparently, he was so good that he started considering whether to pursue a career in that instead. 

Whilst that didn’t happen it would be interesting to see a parallel universe in which he did decide to go down that path. Would he still have been as successful? And more importantly, would he still have met and started dating Taylor Swift. Nobody knows, because thankfully, he stuck it out. Turns out we have Jason Kelce to thank for Travis sticking with his true passion; according to The Philadelphia Inquirer his brother supported him at his lowest and convinced to see it through.

That’s not to say that the suspension didn’t still have a massive impact on how his career would develop. When he finally returned the position of quarterback was no longer available to him meaning he would end up taking tight end. It’s a great example of the butterfly effect, one seemingly harmless choice leading Travis to become the person he is today, it’s clear that it all worked out in the end, but you’ve got to wonder what could have been.