Travis Kelce’s rigid adherence to pregame protocol was on full display before the Kansas City Chiefs’ opener at Arrowhead Stadium, where the star tight end reportedly lashed out at Denver Broncos specialists.

With both teams sharing the field for warmups before the Chiefs’ 31-10 win, Kelce found himself in Denver punter Jeremy Crawshaw’s line of fire, according to ESPN’s Scott Coughlin.

‘The punters for the Broncos messed up their timing,’ Coughlin told Scott Van Pelt on the SVPod. ‘I don’t know if they got out there late.’

Given the warmup delay, the Chiefs receivers had already begun catching passes by the time Crawshaw started kicking, which inevitably led to some friction. 

‘The punts are coming over the 50-yard line and Travis’ eyes lit up, and he sees the ball, and it’s a Broncos ball, and it goes over towards the Broncos’ side, and he catches his route, runs over [to] the ball, takes the Broncos ball and punts it almost to the second deck,’ Coughlin said, adding that Kelce is a ‘good punter.’

‘Now he’s looking for another one,’ Coughlin continued. ‘Sure enough, he goes back, gives the ball up, goes back, runs his route, and he’s just steaming. You could see it. Here comes another one. So now the Broncos ball boy is running over because he saw Travis [run over to catch the punt] again.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) celebrate after a touchdown against the Denver Broncos on Monday at Arrowhead 

Denver Broncos offensive tackle Garett Bolles, left, greets Travis Kelce after Monday’s game

‘Travis is like, “nope,”’ Coughlin added. ‘He beats [the ball boy] to the ball, takes the Broncos ball, chucks it up in the stands.’

Video of that pre-game incident has not yet surfaced, but Kelce was caught on camera having a run-in with fans before Monday night’s game. The confrontation was brief, but a Chiefs fan seated in the front row appeared to grab for one of Kelce’s gloves as he went to the locker room. Annoyed, Kelce seemed to swipe the fan’s hand away before entering the locker room tunnel.

Kelce had a much more infamous pre-game run-in with then-Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker prior to the AFC Championship in January of 2024. With Tucker warming up on the Chiefs’ end of the field, Kelce began clearing the kicker’s equipment to give his own teammates space to warm up.

Tucker, who has a history of warming up on the opponent’s side of the field, looked frustrated but didn’t engage with Kelce.

Meanwhile, Chiefs wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling also got in on the action as he was spotted kicking over a stand.

Although he wasn’t wearing any padding during pre-game warmups, Kelce did have a pair of gloves on as he caught a few passes before getting changed in the locker room. He’d later remove them as he walked to the locker-room tunnel, which is when things got a little uncomfortable.

Kelce is pictured warming up before Monday’s season opener against the Denver Broncos

Kelce still had his gloves in his hand when he reached to bump fists with a few Chiefs fans seated in the first row. One fan presumably thought Kelce was giving him a glove as a souvenir

Kelce still had his crumpled gloves in his hand when he reached to bump fists with a few Chiefs fans seated in the first row at Arrowhead Stadium. One fan presumably thought Kelce was giving him a glove as a souvenir, but when he tried to grab for it, the 14-year veteran appeared to swipe at the overeager spectator’s hand.

Nothing else came of the interaction, which was recorded and quickly went viral online before being deleted.

Many seemed to recognize the misunderstanding.

‘Think he thought he was handing him it lmao,’ one X user posted.

‘I mean it kind of look like he was about to give it to someone or he just wasn’t paying attention to where his hand was but dude still shouldn’t have tried to reach for it,’ another added.

But a few others saw the incident as proof of some moral failure on Kelce’s part.

‘Most unlikeable dude in the league,’ wrote one critic.