While playing college football in Cincinnati, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce tested positive for marijuana and was suspended for the entire 2010 season. Laws and attitudes regarding marijuana have changed significantly since then, and few people believe that such a harsh punishment fits such a mild crime. And Kelce now says what he did as a college football player is something most pro football players do.
Kelce told Vanity Fair that about 50 to 80 percent of NFL players use cannabis and that under the lenient policy the NFL implemented in 2021, it’s easy for players to use marijuana in the offseason and before the start of testing to stop doing so.
“If you just stop mid-July, you’ll be fine,” he said. “A lot of guys quit a week early and still pass because everyone’s training in the heat and they’re sweating. Nobody really gets hit for it anymore.”
Still, Kelce doesn’t necessarily regret what happened to him in college. He says through the experience of missing a season, “I found out how many people were in my corner.”
First in line for the people in his corner was his big brother Jason Kelce, then a Cincinnati teammate and now the Eagles All Pro center. Jason moved Travis into his home on campus the year Travis was suspended to personally oversee Travis and ensure he keeps up with his classes and stays in shape so he’s ready in 2011 after Jason moved on was to return to the team in the NFL.
Travis got his collegiate career back on track, was drafted by the Chiefs and can now view the suspension as just a minor incident in his long career.