The latest NFL season kicked off in September, but football wasn’t the only thing reporters wanted to talk about when they sat down with Jason Kelce. The hot topic the Philadelphia Eagles center couldn’t avoid involved a different kind of match-up: what’s going on between his little brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and music star Taylor Swift. During a September 20 sports radio show appearance, Jason finally seemed to give up the goods. After claiming, “I don’t really know a lot about Travis’ love life,” Jason admitted, “Having said that, man, I think they’re doing great and I think it’s all 100-percent true, and I hope this thing goes a mile.” Then he, confusingly, took his comments back. “No, I’m joking,” Jason, 35, said, insisting, “I don’t know what’s happening.”

 

While sibling Jason might be feigning ignorance, others are ready to reveal what’s really going on. “They’re trying to keep it on the down-low, but the romance rumors about Taylor and Travis are true,” an insider exclusively tells Life & Style. Ever since Travis, 33, revealed that he’d tried and failed to give Taylor, also 33, a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it when he attended her Eras tour stop in Kansas City in July, fans have wanted to know if he got a second chance to connect with the pop star. Turns out, he did. “Taylor heard about his story and got his number from her people and called Travis,” the source explains to Life & Style. “They had a secret date in a private dining room at a restaurant in NYC and it went very well — they really hit it off.”

Before the NFL season started, Travis traveled to the Big Apple, where Taylor was recording between legs of her world tour. “She tried to play coy at first to feel him out and see how serious he was. It didn’t last long, though,” says the source. “She liked that he was into her and wanted to give her a bracelet with his number — she thought that was adorable.” Their chemistry, shares the source, is palpable, “and they look great together. The only problem is their busy schedules.”

They’re both at the top of their games. She’s a three-time Grammy Album of the Year winner who’s broken myriad chart and touring records and is regarded as one of the most successful musicians of all time. He’s won two Super Bowls, broken multiple NFL records and is considered one of the greatest tight ends in football history. But despite the chaos of their work commitments over the next few months, “they’ve been staying in regular contact,” the source tells Life & Style, “and they have more dates lined up.”

It’s early days and anything can happen. At this point, though, “Travis is completely smitten,” says the source. “He likes that when you take all the fame, glitz and glam away, Taylor is pretty down to earth. She laughs easily and they both have a similar sense of humor.” It seems she’s passed his test. “You have to be grounded and you have to have some sort of balance[d] lifestyle. High maintenance, I’m out the door,” Travis recently said of what he looks for in a woman, adding that people who act “arrogant or snooty and higher above people” are “the big- gest turn off.”

Off the football field, he’s not someone who rushes into things. “To really dive into a relationship with somebody, I feel like it’s going to take some time,” Travis, who’s been single since 2022, explained. “I feel like you really got to know somebody to take that step and to really be committed and be in full throttle.”

But despite those claims, the source reveals to Life & Style, privately, “he’s already telling certain friends that Taylor could be the one.” Taylor — who most recently had a fling with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy, 34, in May after ending a six-year romance with actor Joe Alwyn, 32 — is hooked too, says the source, admitting, “She’s excited about dating an athlete.”

If things get more serious, however, there may be hurdles to overcome — like money issues. While Taylor, who’s worth a whopping $600 million, wanted to be a financial advisor growing up, Travis reportedly has amassed more than $200K in tax liens in the past, over $65,000 of which is still due, despite signing a $57 million contract in 2020. There’s also the issue of kids. Though “Travis is the perfect uncle,” according to brother Jason — who’s married with three daughters under 4 — the source says, “he’s not ready to be a dad. Fatherhood scares Travis. And Taylor wants children.”

That’s a conversation for the future. Right now, says the source, “They’re having fun together. Taylor and Travis just want to see where this goes.”