Chiefs Stars Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce Fantasy Trade Advice Before the Deadline

The Kansas City Chiefs would never dream of trading Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce in real life.

But fantasy football doesn't always mirror real life.

Perhaps someone in your league has Kelce and is in drastic need of a running back to replace an injured playmaker. That sounds like the perfect time to step in and make a trade for one of the biggest game-changers in all of fantasy football.

From a positional standpoint, the drop-off from Kelce to the No. 2 tight end is arguably bigger than the gap between first and second at any other spot on the field.

That means fantasy football managers with the University of Cincinnati product at a position that is often defined by weekly inconsistency have a distinct advantage over their opposition, whereas there isn't a huge difference between having an A.J. Brown compared to Christian Kirk at wide receiver.

Kelce leads all tight ends in catches (57), receiving yards (659) and touchdown catches (seven).

By comparison, Zach Ertz is second with 46 catches, Dallas Goedert is second with 521 receiving yards, and Mark Andrews is second with five touchdown catches. Nobody does everything quite as well as Kelce, which makes him worthy of a trade featuring a running back or wide receiver.

The same might not be said about Mahomes.

While he is a fantasy and real-life star who is capable of putting up five touchdowns in any given game, the drop-off isn't quite as drastic at the quarterback position. Fantasy players with Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts and even Geno Smith are likely almost as happy with their signal-callers as they would be with Mahomes.

Even Justin Fields and Tua Tagovailoa have been fantasy stars of late, with the former setting records with his rushing ability.

Fantasy players could afford to trade Mahomes if the return is significant enough because there are better options at QB than at tight end for someone moving Kelce. Maybe one of those options would come back in a trade for the Chiefs quarterback.

Proceed with caution, but it is at least something worth exploring for the right price.