NFL
Travis Kelce Hilariously Tries (and Fails) to Name Current NFL Head Coaches
Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sports7 in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs. As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He's a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early '90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA. When he's not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.
All posts by Tim CreanUpdated31 Mar 2023
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce isn't good with names. He knows this. His brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, knows this. But bros and co-hosts decided to have Travis try to identify all the NFL head coaches in their group photo from the NFL Annual Meeting anyways. And, as you can imagine, the results were hilarious.
Travis Kelce actually did better naming NFL coaches than he thought he would
At the NFL Annual Meeting, there is a tradition where all the head coaches get together for a group picture. In 2023, 29 of the 32 team leaders were there for the photo.
On the New Heights podcast, hosted by the NFL-star brothers Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce, both older brother Jason and Travis admitted they'd struggle to name all the coaches in the photo. Then Jason wondered aloud if most NFL players could identify half the coaches in the league right now by their pictures and challenged Travis to do so.
It did not go well.
Travis Kelce accepted the challenge, although he stipulated he would only match the coach with his team, as he is “the worst with names.”
Starting from the top left and moving right, Travis got off to a nice start, matching Brandon Staley with the Los Angeles Chargers, Brian Daboll with the New York Giants, and Kyle Shanahan with the San Francisco 49ers.
The wheels started falling off when he got to Las Vegas Raiders coach Josh McDaniels. The Chiefs tight end took one look at the former New England Patriots assistant and said, “Who the f*** is that guy?”
He also missed Atlanta Falcons coach Arthur Smith before recovering for longtime Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Todd Bowles, and the Detroit Lions' Dan Campbell.
Next up was the Minnesota Vikings' Kevin O'Connell, who Jason gave Travis a “zero percent chance” of getting correct, and he was right.
To finish up the top, Travis got Robert Salah of the New York Jets, Doug Peterson of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and DeMeco Ryans of the Houston Texans. However, he missed the Chicago Bears' Matt Eberflus, Jason's offensive coordinator last season and new Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen, and AFC rival Zac Taylor of the Cincinnati Bengals.
As the pair got to the bottom, Travis went back from right to left and actually did better on the more star-studded bottom section than he did on the top.
He got Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy, who the brothers likened to the Saturday Night Live Chris Farley character, Matt Foley. Then, Travis said he's “never seen this f***ing guy in my life” until Jason told him it was his former Eagles defensive coordinator and new Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon.
Travis hit 10 of the final 12, missing the Cleveland Browns Kevin Stefanski and the New Orleans Saints Dennis Allen.
However, he nailed Mike McDaniel (Miami Dolphins), Pete Carroll (Seattle Seahawks), John Harbaugh (Baltimore Ravens), Bill Belichick (Patriots), his own coach, Andy Reid, Ron Rivera (Washington Commanders), Sean Payton (Denver Broncos), Sean McVay (Los Aneles Rams), Matt LaFleur (Green Bay Packers), and Sean McDermott (Buffalo Bills).
Missing from the picture were Jason's Eagles headman Nick Sirianni, the Tennessee Titans' Mike Vrabel, and the Carolina Panthers' Frank Reich.
So, the final tally for NFL coaches “named” by Travis Kelce was 21 out of 29, for a respectable 72.4%. And as Jason Kelce told his brother at the end, “I don't know how much better I could do.”
Well done, Travis. And thanks for the laughs.
