Editor’s note: This is an updated version of an article to reflect Alex Morgan’s retirement announcement on Sept. 5, 2024. The story was first published on Aug. 1, 2024.

Alex Morgan was inescapable this summer, but not because she went to the Olympics. Whether it’s Coca-Cola commercials or Reese’s Instagram ads, she was on every screen and every device. Sponsors made these deals expecting Morgan to be on the U.S. women’s national team roster for the Paris Games. But when head coach Emma Hayes announced her team in June, the unthinkable happened: no Morgan.

It was a surprise and yet it wasn’t.

Morgan has played for the United States in every major tournament they’ve participated in since 2011. She has won the World Cup twice, worn Olympic gold and bronze medals, and with 123 goals, is eighth on the women’s all-time international goals scored list. She is also on the downslope of her career, having long ago left behind the “baby horse” moniker fondly bestowed on her by senior teammates and becoming the senior teammate herself.

“Putting a squad together, you’re always going to disappoint someone,” said Hayes during a podcast taping for “The Women’s Game” with Sam Mewis. “I think when it comes to Alex, first of all, there’s no easy way to give someone crap news…. The human piece for me is around the delivery of that (news). But also accepting that no matter the situation, there’s always gonna be somebody who doesn’t like the decision.”

Emotionally, it’s always jarring to see a great generational player sunsetted by a coach. The name “Alex Morgan” has been synonymous with the USWNT for over a decade. But logistically and tactically, there was certainly an argument for leaving the 35-year-old Morgan and taking a newer generation of scoring talent, one that is still bolstered by veteran presence from Crystal Dunn, Lindsey Horan, Lynn Williams and Rose Lavelle.

As the USWNT captured gold against Brazil, there was no question of needing another veteran. Hayes’ preferred starting front three of Sophia Smith, Mallory Swanson, and Trinity Rodman dazzled, with rookie Croix Bethune waiting in the wings.

The end of Morgan’s time with the U.S. was writing on the wall when Hayes first left her off the W Gold Cup roster in February. Morgan was only called in after Chelsea forward Mia Fishel tore her ACL in training. It’s hard not to assign symbolism to the image of Morgan in a differently-numbered jersey, sporting a No 7 in place of her iconic No 13 due to CONCACAF rules about wearing the same number as the player you replace. After 14 years in the No 13 jersey, the number is almost as much a part of her brand as her actual play on the field.

Morgan scored two goals in that tournament, one of them a penalty. It was her first goal in 10 international games, covering more than a year. On Thursday, she announced she was retiring from the sport and expecting her second child. Her final game will take place on Sunday against North Carolina Courage in the NWSL.

Her on-field role has increasingly become as much about the damage she can absorb as she pulls attention away from other players as it is about scoring. That defensive attention is a hallmark of the respect she has still accorded, the danger she still presents in front of goal. But it’s no longer consistent, varied or efficient enough to justify a spot on the toughest international roster to make, at least not in Hayes’ mind.

Still, in the face of declining stats, there was always the argument for Morgan’s presence as a veteran and a leader. She was, until recently, co-captain with Lindsey Horan, someone whose voice carried authority with both teammates and fans. When midfielder Korbin Albert’s anti-LGBTQ social media posts began circulating widely, Morgan was out in front of the cameras with Horan at her side, reading a prepared team statement about maintaining a respectful space and speaking internally to Albert. It was unquestionably a captain’s job, intercepting scrutiny on behalf of the team, the kind of thankless task that comes with the armband.

Horan has taken leadership lessons from Morgan, too, while she’s still learning on the job as the new, and only, team captain.

“Experiencing a World Cup with Alex was crucial for that experience,” Horan said in New York before leaving for France.

Horan credits Morgan for helping her take on the role of captain (Brad Smith, Getty Images)

Before Horan, Morgan and Megan Rapinoe were co-captains. The two arranged team dinners before camps so the players could bond and have a night out.

“There are things that exist (that) leaders and veterans on this team have been doing for many years and it’s kind of been passed down,” said defender Naomi Girma, who said that in this iteration of the USWNT, Emily Sonnett and Lavelle arranged the latest team dinner in New York. “Everyone is so special in their own way, so there’s never going to be another one of an Alex or Pinoe.”

Sonnet, who was on the 2019 and 2023 World Cup teams with Morgan and Rapinoe, said the players often do things they think the two former leaders would have done.

“Alex is an incredible leader and she’s been on this team for so many years,” said Sonnett. “Leaders like Lindsey, Mal (Swanson), Rose, they’re definitely remembering things that Alex, Pinoe, who aren’t on this roster, what they would be doing because we’ve just been around them for so many years.”

Alongside her teammates, Morgan was part of historic collective bargaining agreement negotiations that helped pave the way for the USWNT as it exists today, with not just better money and working conditions, but also benefits like parental leave and short-term disability.

She’s spoken up about LGBTQ+ rights, including supporting trans children in sports, and followed Rapinoe in 2020 in kneeling during the national anthem to protest anti-Black police brutality and racism. When she was on loan at Tottenham Hotspur in 2020, she saw the women’s senior team training at an inferior facility and convinced the club to allow the women to use the same new training facility as the men. When Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir sued her own club Lyon for withholding her salary when she got pregnant, Morgan again advocated for the standards clubs should provide for parents.

Through Sara’s story, I feel compelled to express how at the very least a team can support their player that’s a mom. 1. Providing their own hotel room on away trips(yes we usually have roommates 2. Providing a hotel room for nanny/caregiver 3. Providing seats on the…

— Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) January 19, 2023

And she feels compelled to speak up as one of, if not the most visible, players wherever she goes, publicly stating she was disappointed to hear about allegations of harassment against Wave president Jill Ellis, writing on X: “It’s important to me that we are creating that environment for both players AND staff throughout the entire organization.”

Morgan’s advocacy for various causes could have backfired in terms of her marketability. But it hasn’t. She is as potent a brand as ever, landing on Forbes’ highest-paid female athletes list in 2023 with endorsements estimated around $7million. In 2021, she founded TOGETHXR, a media and commerce company, alongside Chloe Kim, Simone Manuel and Sue Bird. Her hustle is admirable to the point of pathos. During one scene in Netflix’s “Under Pressure” documentary, she comforts daughter Charlie while Charlie cries for attention in the midst of Morgan opening a soccer store — a reminder of Morgan, the mother.

But the reality of being a woman in professional soccer is that no one, not even Morgan, is going to make enough money to retire without careful, calculated investment and branding. Similarly high-profile men’s players can set themselves up nearly off pure performance. Any man knocking in the kinds of numbers that Morgan has produced in her career will make millions from his salary alone, let alone endorsements.

Morgan has advocated for parental rights at club and national level (Brad Smith, Getty Images)

But Morgan has had to cash in on her clutch, once-in-a-lifetime talent while also leveraging her privileges: she is white, straight and femme-presenting. That makes her a more palatable brand to both businesses and audiences in a country that has a well-documented history of racism, misogyny, and transphobia towards athletes outside of a stereotypical presentation of femininity, athletes like Rapinoe, Serena Williams, Katie Ledecky, Brittney Griner, Simone Biles, and Sha’Carri Richardson. The space Morgan is afforded to speak out and speak up is accordingly bigger compared to Dunn or even Rapinoe, whose outspokenness has incurred criticism that she has weathered through her own unique levels of “not giving a f***.”

Morgan has admirably walked the line between performance and brand, outspokenness and marketability. She’s presented herself as player, mom and advocate while also guarding her private self.

With someone as famous as Morgan, who partially built her reputation on being a role model, and partially was assigned the responsibility through social expectation of women in sports, there is a natural desire to want to know that authentic, private self. One aspect of her smart marketing has been to give enough of a glimpse into that private life — like the aforementioned scene with Charlie — while maintaining a fairly strict boundary between herself and the public.

Her social media posts about her family are warm and personable but don’t give away any more than Morgan wants to give away. She’s funny and charming on camera and doesn’t mind speaking candidly on social justice topics, but these moments are curated, usually with time to plan ahead. You won’t see the minutiae of her day, the gossip she shares with friends or disagreements with family. Like any athlete, Morgan has a right to privacy and to decide how and when she wants to dole out any piece of herself. And her ability to pick the right how and when has served her well.

Who’s next?

Walking down the street and asking someone to name a women’s soccer player, you might get a mix of Morgan, Mia Hamm, Marta, perhaps Wambach.

In this next era of women’s soccer, is it even harder to climb to generational megastar who carries “only name I know” status? While the women’s game is growing ever more popular, it’s also becoming more competitive and therefore more difficult to separate yourself from the pack. Racking up Morgan-level stats feels harder to reach, although certainly not impossible.

There are a few American contenders for the crown, based on the performance-personality axes of measurement that Morgan has played so well: that front three of Rodman, Smith, and Swanson.

Swanson, Smith and Rodman have emerged as a scoring trio at the Paris Games. (Photo by Brad Smith, Getty Images).

The trio has already built a strong fanbase, both individually and as a group, over the past few years and will only gain more leverage should they find the ultimate success at the Olympics this summer. American audiences love gold medals, sometimes to the point of extreme valorization, and U.S. Soccer has already scheduled its first post-Olympic friendlies in October against Iceland, no doubt hoping to parade a team of winners.

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While Morgan’s time on the field is coming to an end, her impact off it is not. She’s still here. Still speaking up. Still feeling responsibility in situations that call for a voice of leadership. The example she sets is the standard many players follow for success.

There is an Alex-Morgan-shaped hole in the USWNT, but it’s also being filled by all types of players in all kinds of ways. Morgan, who fought so hard for the USWNT to be treated with respect, to be set up to win in any circumstances, is in some ways the architect of her own absence. This is a team that can exist without Morgan and that’s ultimately for the good.

(Top photo: Brad Smith/Getty Images; design: Dan Goldfarb)

A handful of Week 1 results set the stage for what should be an epic season of college football. A few other programs leaned on FCS opponents to hit the turbo button on hype and expectations.

Week 2 offers the chance for teams to either change or fortify those narratives against stiffer competition, featuring in-state battles, rekindled rivalries, upset specials and a top-10 tilt in The Big House.

Honorable Mention: BYU at SMU (Friday), No. 23 Georgia Tech at Syracuse, Baylor at No. 11 Utah, South Carolina at Kentucky, Michigan State at Maryland, No. 19 Kansas at Illinois, Oregon State at San Diego State.

(All point spreads come from BetMGM; click here for live odds. All kickoff times are Eastern and on Saturday unless otherwise noted.)

10. USF (1-0) at No. 4 Alabama (1-0), 7 p.m., ESPN

Before someone jumps in the comments complaining about the big point spread, remember that this same matchup last season — when the Tide limped to a 17-3 win in Tampa and the sky was falling for Bama fans — was a 34.5-point spread. I’m not suggesting there will be a repeat of that in Tuscaloosa, but this game can be viewed through the lens of all that has changed for the Tide since the previous meeting, when quarterback Jalen Milroe got benched and people openly wondered whether Nick Saban was washed.

Now Milroe is a Heisman contender and Saban (very much NOT washed) is sitting next to Pat McAfee on Saturday mornings. Credit to USF as well. The program has made significant strides under second-year coach coach Alex Golesh and has a dynamic quarterback of its own in Byrum Brown. I’ll be tuning in to see how Milroe and the Kalen DeBoer-led Crimson Tide fare against the Bulls a year later.

Line: Alabama -30.5

9. UTSA (1-0) at Texas State (1-0), 4 p.m., ESPNU

It’s the I-35 Rivalry between two of the top Group of 5 contenders. Both are coming off underwhelming Week 1 victories but were picked second in their respective preseason conference polls, with a chance to nab that G5 College Football Playoff spot if the rest of the season goes their way. Texas State, led by coach GJ Kinne and quarterback Jordan McCloud, was my preseason Playoff sleeper pick out of the Sun Belt, but the Bobcats will need a win over Jeff Traylor and the Roadrunners, who have ambitions of their own in the AAC and have won five straight in the rivalry. If those stakes aren’t enough, Kinne played quarterback for Traylor as a high-school senior — and their bond runs even deeper than that.

Line: Texas State -1.5

8. No. 17 Kansas State (1-0) at Tulane (1-0), Noon, ESPN

K-State made easy work of an FCS opponent last week while flashing its run-game potency, racking up 283 yards at 9.1 yards a pop. And after a couple of ACC favorites face-planted out of the starting blocks, the path to two Big 12 programs making the 12-team Playoff field seems much wider, which absolutely benefits the Wildcats. But going on the road to face Tulane is a tougher task after the Green Wave dominated its own FCS opponent with a strong debut by redshirt freshman quarterback Darian Mensah. Reminder: Tulane upset K-State in Manhattan two years ago, a Wildcat team that went on to win the Big 12.

Line: Kansas State -9.5

7. Appalachian State (1-0) at No. 25 Clemson (0-1), 8 p.m., ACC Network

Are the Tigers on upset alert? I’m not ready to predict this one either, but App State does have a history of taking down the big boys, most recently sixth-ranked Texas A&M on the road in 2022. The Mountaineers were preseason favorites in the Sun Belt and looked solid in their Week 1 win, with QB Joey Aguilar throwing for 326 yards and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, Clemson’s rough showing against Georgia — and the subsequent anti-Dabo discourse — makes the Tigers a must-watch against any opponent with a pulse. App State certainly qualifies.

Line: Clemson -17.5

The Pokes took care of business against an admirable South Dakota State side — as a top-20 team should — and running back Ollie Gordon II picked up where he left off in 2023 with 126 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Can Oklahoma State show the same promise against an SEC opponent? Any talk of Sam Pittman’s hot seat got back-burnered after Arkansas’ 70-0 shutout in Week 1, and Boise State transfer QB Taylen Green looked good in his Razorbacks debut. But this showdown in Stillwater — reviving a regional rivalry that’s been dormant since 1980 — should offer a clearer sense of what to expect from both teams.

Line: Oklahoma State -7.5

5. Colorado (1-0) at Nebraska (1-0), 7:30 p.m., NBC

Another renewed rivalry, this one from the old Big 12 (and Big Eight) days, now featuring a Big 12 team once again. Travis Hunter caught three touchdowns, Shedeur Sanders threw for 445 yards and Coach Prime made his usual postgame headlines after Colorado pulled out a win over North Dakota State last week. But the most anticipated aspect of this game might be Nebraska true freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola. The five-star recruit fueled the hype by going 19-for-27 for 238 yards and two touchdowns in the Cornhuskers’ 40-7 win over UTEP. Now he faces a Buffs’ defense that gave up 449 yards to NDSU, and is at the helm of a Nebraska team that will be looking to avenge last year’s 36-14 loss in Boulder.

Line: Nebraska -7.5

4. Boise State (1-0) at No. 7 Oregon (1-0), 10 p.m., Peacock

The jury is still out on the Ducks, who dropped from No. 3 to No. 7 in the AP Poll after an uninspiring 24-14 win over FCS Idaho last weekend, a game in which Oregon was favored by 49.5 points. The Ducks completely dominated the box score, including 380 passing yards from quarterback Dillon Gabriel on 41 of 49 completions. But a missed field goal, fumble and a couple of failed fourth-down attempts kept the game close and dolloped some skepticism onto Oregon. Boise State won a 56-45 shootout with Georgia Southern that featured 1,112 yards of combined offense, including 267 rushing yards and six touchdowns for Broncos stud running back Ashton Jeanty (who yours truly just happened to select in The Athletic’s Heisman draft). If the Ducks get their act together, I’d bet the over (61.5 points) in this one.

Line: Oregon -19.5

3. No. 14 Tennessee (1-0) vs. No. 24 NC State (1-0), 7:30 p.m., ABC

For those tuning into the Duke’s Mayo Classic, add Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava to the list of much-hyped players who backed it up in Week 1. The redshirt freshman went 22-of-28 passing for 314 yards and three touchdowns in a blowout win over Chattanooga, gassing up the Knoxville faithful. Tennessee finished with 718 yards of total offense. Coastal Carolina transfer QB Grayson McCall looked pretty good in his NC State debut as well, but the Wolfpack struggled with Western Carolina and were trailing entering the fourth quarter before scoring 21 unanswered. NC State won’t have that same luxury against what has the early makings of another high-octane Tennessee offense.

Line: Tennessee -7.5

2. Iowa State (1-0) at No. 21 Iowa (1-0), 3:30 p.m., CBS

The Cy-Hawk series hasn’t been high-scoring lately, and that will probably be the case again, despite the Hawkeyes putting up 40 in the first game under new offensive coordinator Tim Lester. The over/under is 35.5, and the last Cy-Hawk matchup to surpass 45 combined points was Iowa’s 44-41 overtime win in 2017. But it should be another high-stakes slugfest between intrastate rivals with dark-horse Playoff hopes. The Cyclones had a workmanlike win over North Dakota but will need to be better running the ball against an Iowa defense that allowed only 189 total yards to Illinois State. Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz is back on the sideline after a one-game suspension. Iowa has won seven of the past eight over Iowa State.

Line: Iowa -3

1. No. 3 Texas (1-0) at No. 10 Michigan (1-0), Noon, Fox

“Big Noon Kickoff” heads to Ann Arbor for a blue-blooded heavyweight clash. Michigan let Fresno State crawl within six points in the fourth quarter before slamming the door shut, but it will need to get much more from a new-look offense that failed to top 300 yards and scored only two of the team’s three touchdowns. Starting quarterback Davis Warren struggled, and running back Donovan Edwards never got revved up. The Wolverines will have to figure things out against a Texas squad that blanked Colorado State 52-0, including 260 yards and three touchdowns from Fansville’s own Deputy Quinn Ewers. The Longhorns went on the road for a massive Week 2 win over Alabama last year on their way to the Playoff. Michigan gets a chance to prove just how stout its national title defense can be.

Line: Texas -7.5

(Photo of Donovan Edwards: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Minutes after celebrating their place in NFL history, they were scrambling in terror.

Every prominent member of the Kansas City Chiefs — Andy Reid and his coaching staff, general manager Brett Veach, quarterback Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce and their teammates — left the stage in front of Union Station and headed back into the grand hall. It was the city’s parade to honor their Super Bowl LVIII victory, the first NFL team to successfully defend a championship in almost two decades.

Minutes later gunshots sounded; the team and the thousands of fans celebrating on an unseasonably warm Valentine’s Day were plunged into chaos.

The 66-year-old Reid and a trio of players — running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, right guard Trey Smith and long snapper James Winchester — were among those who ran toward children during the gunfire and tried to comfort those around them. According to a law enforcement source, granted anonymity for this story because he doesn’t have permission to speak publicly on the shooting, at one point police thought there was a shooter inside Union Station, where Chiefs personnel, coaches, players and their families had run for cover.

“I went to my grandkids and my family, like, Where are they?!” Reid said two weeks after the shooting. “Your instincts take over.”

Chaos has broken out at the end of the Chiefs Super Bowl parade. Police and military personnel just took off inside of Union Station pic.twitter.com/mqNeodS9r5

— Jacob Meikel (@Jacob_Meikel) February 14, 2024

Edwards-Helaire, who has a reputation as one of the Chiefs’ most jovial players, had his usual offseason training halted several times while he dealt with post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition he has grappled with since fatally shooting a man attempting to rob him in 2018; the parade shooting worsened his severe anxiety.

When the shots finally stopped, 22 victims — half of them under the age of 16 — were wounded and one person, Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a disc jockey at Kansas City radio station KKFI and mother of two, was dead. The shooting stemmed from a dispute between several people, two of whom were under the age of 18 when they were detained by the Kansas City Police Department.

That horrific scene was how the Chiefs’ offseason began. It barely calmed down over the next six months: a rising star became embroiled in legal issues stemming from a high-speed crash, a future Hall of Famer battled time and the scrutiny that comes with dating the world’s most famous woman, their kicker thrust himself into the culture wars and a 25-year-old teammate almost died at the team’s training facility.

Starting Thursday night against the Baltimore Ravens, Chiefs players, coaches and front office members will spend the next five months trying to accomplish an unprecedented feat: Win a third consecutive Super Bowl. But first, they had to endure an offseason unlike any other.

Rashee Rice’s rented Lamborghini SUV was approaching 120 miles per hour on a Dallas highway. He was part of a late-afternoon drag race on a busy stretch of the Central Expressway and, as he tried to weave through traffic, he slammed into a hatchback traveling in the left lane, setting off a chain reaction. The hatchback careened into the black Corvette that Rice was racing, sending the Corvette into a minivan before crashing into a retaining wall on the other side of the road. The minivan and a white SUV were sent spinning in the center lane. In the end, six vehicles were involved. In the immediate aftermath, Rice and four of his friends exited the two vehicles, made their way to the breakdown lane and walked away before police arrived, leaving behind the crash’s victims, baffled onlookers and two mangled luxury vehicles.

From Rashee Rice’s attorney, Royce West: “Rashee is cooperating with local authorities and will take all necessary steps to address this situation responsibly.” via @AdamSchefter.@dallaspd was reportedly looking for the Chiefs’ wide receiver following Saturday’s crash. @FOX4 pic.twitter.com/ubD0dBSBJ4

— Peyton Yager (@peytonyager) April 1, 2024

The March 30 crash involved Teddy Knox, a former SMU teammate of Rice who was the driver of the black Corvette. Two drivers of other vehicles were treated at the scene for minor injuries, and two occupants of another vehicle were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

On April 11, Rice turned himself in at the Glenn Heights (Texas) Police Department after the Dallas PD issued an arrest warrant. Records showed Rice, who was booked and released on a $40,000 bond, is facing one count of aggravated assault, one count of collision involving serious bodily injury and six counts of collision involving injury, although a trial date has yet to be set. Two crash victims, Irina Gromova and Edvard Petrovskiy, are suing Rice and Knox for more than $10 million; a trial is set to begin next June.

Rice made his first public comments about the crash through an Instagram story post: “I take full responsibility for my part in this matter and will continue to cooperate with the necessary authorities. I sincerely apologize to everyone impacted in Saturday’s accident.”

Less than a week after turning himself in to the police, Rice returned to work, participating in every aspect of the Chiefs’ offseason program. During training camp, he declined to share if he had been interviewed by commissioner Roger Goodell or anyone else from the league.

“The main thing for me is being able to be the best person I can be for my team so we can all come together and dominate,” Rice said in early August. “I’m just continuing to surround myself with the people I want to be like and continuing to surround myself with people who are going to allow me to grow to become a better person on and off the field. I’m going to continue to grow.”

Brian McCarthy, a league spokesman, said in a news video conference last week that Rice wouldn’t be placed on the league’s commissioner’s exempt list — which allows the league to remove a player facing felony charges from the playing field and take that disciplinary decision away from the team — “unless there is a material change in the case.”

Since Reid became their head coach in 2013, the Chiefs have been willing to bring in players with a history of off-the-field transgressions. That was true of Rice, who was taken off at least three teams’ draft boards due to character concerns, according to league sources, before Kansas City moved up nine spots to select him in the second round of the 2023 draft.

A common misconception is that Reid’s Chiefs employ a loose, fun-all-the-time culture. In reality, Reid runs one of the most physical training camps in the NFL and they maintain those grueling practice habits throughout the season. Reid has learned to micromanage less, but swap out sleeveless hoodies for Tommy Bahama shirts — and Tom Brady for Mahomes — and you have an organization that has much more in common with the Patriot Way than most outsiders think. And similar to New England, the winning encourages players to buy in.

“They trust their infrastructure,” a rival GM said. “(Reid) can handle just about anything and make sure the leadership is strong to absorb those players. … Talent is a premium, for sure, and figuring out where to draw the line can definitely be taxing on the assistants. Bill (Belichick) was the same way. It’s all about risk tolerance and at what cost.”

Despite a troubling offseason, the Chiefs still have extremely high expectations for Rashee Rice. (Emily Curiel / Kansas City Star / Tribune News Service / Getty Images)

Just a few weeks before the crash, Rice was in Fort Worth, Texas, training alongside Mahomes and Marquise Brown, the Chiefs’ newest veteran receiver. Mahomes, who spent a portion of his childhood in a Major League Baseball clubhouse, understands the need to use his voice to criticize Rice in a manner that is not solely punitive.

“There’s going to be punishments and stuff that they’re going to have to deal with,” Mahomes said of Rice last month. “But when you’re a guy on the team, you’re kind of like an older brother to the guy. You want to bring him up as best you can.

“Obviously, they know they’ve made mistakes. They own up to them. But at the same time, how are we going to be better now? How can you learn from that mistake and not make that same mistake again? That’s what you’re doing in every aspect of life, not just football.”

The Chiefs have a potential superstar in Rice. As a rookie last season he was the Chiefs’ best receiver, recording 79 receptions for 938 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns. Based on his on-field performance this summer, the 24-year-old is expected to not merely build on that success in 2024 but potentially establish himself as one of the NFL’s elite receivers. The Chiefs have proved, in the short term, they can win without great receiver play. For the long term, Rice could be the answer to one of the questions looming over the franchise: Who will become Mahomes’ next go-to target? After all, Kelce cannot play forever.

Kelce was emotional, almost choking up at one point during the short social-media video directed toward Chiefs fans. He thanked them for their support and reminisced about when he arrived in Kansas City. It was April 29, the Monday after the NFL Draft, and the tight end had just signed a two-year contract extension.

The news was significant for two reasons: It made him the NFL’s highest-paid tight end for the first time in his career; and it was the first public indication of what Kelce, who will be 35 in October, told Reid and Veach before signing the deal: He thinks he has at least two more good years left.

Kelce plans to help the franchise continue its success for at least a couple more seasons even as his fame in the world outside football grows exponentially after, last fall, his relationship with pop superstar Taylor Swift became public.

“I love playing in the NFL,” Kelce said in June. “This will always be my main focus. But outside of that, football ends for everybody, so (I’m) kind of dipping my toes in the water and seeing what (I) like in different areas and different career fields. I think the offseason is the best chance you can get to try and explore that and set yourself up for after football.”

Kelce spent much of the offseason in Los Angeles, his first step toward the acting career he plans to pursue after football. His first opportunity was in the spring; actress/comedian Niecy Nash-Betts revealed in early May that Kelce would be guest-starring alongside her, in an unspecified role, in “Grotesquerie,” an FX horror and drama show. Comedian and actor Adam Sandler shared last month that Kelce will play a supporting role in the much-anticipated “Happy Gilmore 2.” Kelce also flew to Europe several times — London, Dublin and many other cities — to attend as many of Swift’s concerts as possible, consistently shocked at the growing number of Chiefs jerseys he saw in each city.

WE HAVE A CLOSE UP NOW pic.twitter.com/BUnSTn5a4k

— line 🌙 (@nessianxx) June 23, 2024

Kelce’s life changed last season when he began dating Swift. His weekly podcast with his brother, Jason, “New Heights,” became one of the medium’s fastest-growing shows. Travis’s social media followers grew by more than 400,000. In less than a week, his No. 87 jersey rose to the top five in NFL sales, according to Fanatics.

Kelce’s life also changed in less desirable ways. For instance, as paparazzi descended on his suburban home, he learned the hard way that dating the world’s most famous woman requires a gated community; he moved in November.

In 2023, the Chiefs became the third team in NFL history to play 21 regular- and postseason games in a single season. In the first six years of the Mahomes era, the Chiefs played an unmatched 18 postseason games, for a total of 117 games during that span; Kelce played in all but four of them. And yet, the Chiefs are not worried about Kelce potentially slowing down. As he followed Swift’s Eras Tour around the world this summer, Kelce brought a small team of trainers along with him. The world saw his surprise on-stage appearance as a performer during Swift’s late-June show at London’s Wembley Stadium, but few saw the full-time football work he continued to put in while overseas. And, European tours and acting gigs aside, he didn’t miss a single Chiefs workout this summer, mandatory or voluntary.

It might not be TB12, but those in the Chiefs building say Kelce is obsessed with body maintenance. It’s cliché to insist that your best players are your hardest workers, but even Veach was surprised when, on his way out the door on Monday — after the team’s hardest practice of the week — he saw his All-Pro tight end doing band work in an otherwise empty weight room at 9 p.m.

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There’s no doubt that Kelce still has both feet in the football world, just like there’s no doubt that Swift is fully embracing her Chiefs fandom. It did, however, take everyone involved a little bit of time to find the rhythm to this dance.

For instance, Swift made her first appearance at Arrowhead Stadium last September. The lasting image of an otherwise forgettable blowout victory over the Chicago Bears: When Kelce caught a 3-yard touchdown to stretch the lead to 41-0, cameras caught Swift jumping, cheering and shouting three words: Let’s f—ing go!

Before the Chiefs’ locker room was opened after the game, players were asked to not discuss Swift with reporters, a request from Kelce that led to awkward interactions between players and reporters surrounding one of the game’s biggest storylines.

“It’s crazy that someone was at a football game, right?” defensive end George Karlaftis said, smiling, in response to a question about Swift. “I don’t know what you guys want. I’m happy for him.”

That day brought a new kind of stress for the Chiefs’ security operation, which had to coordinate with Swift’s team for her safe entry into and exit from the stadium. With the game winding down in the fourth quarter, security put its original plan into motion, ushering Swift out to a meeting point with Kelce. Only, Swift had a different idea: She wanted to watch the end of her boyfriend’s game. That meant plans had to change on the fly. Ultimately, the security detail had Swift wait in the suite after the game until Kelce was ready to meet her there. The couple later exited Arrowhead as if they were the homecoming king and queen, driving downtown in his burgundy convertible. Their first public date occurred at Prime Social in the city’s Country Club Plaza area, a night when more than a third of Kelce’s teammates joined the gathering with Swift’s friends.

At a practice the next week, Kunal Tanna, Veach’s assistant, made the usual rounds, asking those in each position room if they had any song requests for that day’s workout. That’s how one of Swift’s songs made it onto the playlist, making for a light moment during practice. Mahomes approached Tanna. “That was really funny,” he said, before adding, “don’t ever do it again” — a message for Tanna, and for the team, that outside noise stays outside the practice field.

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Swift was learning a new world as well. She attended her first road game a week later, a Sunday nighter against the New York Jets in East Rutherford, N.J. When Swift arrived at MetLife Stadium, rather than being greeted by a raucous crowd of paparazzi, it was a collection of sports journalists, as polite as they were unsure of what to do. “It’s so quiet in here,” Swift said after exiting her car; she then had a chance to enjoy the likely unfamiliar sound of her own footsteps echoing as she made her way through the tunnel.

Swift continued attending games, and as the season progressed, the rhythm became more familiar for everyone involved. The organization embraced her presence. She was on the field next to Kelce just minutes after the Chiefs won the AFC Championship Game in Baltimore. Much to the surprise of just about everyone, she was on the field in the chaotic moments after Super Bowl LVIII. (For those wondering, she will be in attendance for Thursday night’s season opener against the Ravens.)

This was the only sign of Taylor Swift this preseason, but things should be different on Thursday night. (Kevin Sabitus / Getty Images)

Even with Mahomes, on a trajectory to become the greatest player in NFL history, as their leader, no one has generated more positive buzz for the Chiefs than Kelce. When 32 players took the stage in front of the Rose Garden with President Joe Biden in late May, it was Kelce who was given the opportunity to step into the spotlight.

After an invitation from the president, Kelce joined Biden at the lectern: “My fellow Americans, it’s nice to see you all again… I’m not gonna lie, President Biden, they told me if I came up here I’d get tased, so I’m gonna go back to my spot.”

The ceremony ended with owner Clark Hunt and Reid presenting Biden with the gift of a Chiefs helmet that featured three autographs in black marker, from Reid, Veach and team president Mark Donovan. When there was a pause during a photo opp, Kelce led a group of players encouraging Biden to put the helmet on.

Biden obliged. There were cheers and laughter. Even kicker Harrison Butker, stoic in the top row for most of the ceremony, couldn’t help but crack a smile.

Speaking to a packed gymnasium in Atchison, Kan., on May 11, Butker’s address to Benedictine College’s Class of 2024 started the way most commencement speeches do: He congratulated the graduates. Nothing else he said over the next 20 minutes was ordinary.

The 28-year-old kicker referred to Pride Month, the events in June demonstrating inclusivity and support for the LGBTQ+ community, as an example of the “deadly sins,” as he advocated for a more conservative brand of Catholicism. He criticized Biden on several issues, including abortion and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, even questioning Biden’s personal devotion to Catholicism. Addressing a class that included hundreds of women, Butker said a woman’s most important title is “homemaker.”

“It is you, the women, who have had the most diabolic lies told to you,” Butker told them. “Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”

Hours after the speech was posted to YouTube, the backlash began. GLAAD, a non-profit LGBTQ advocacy organization, denounced the speech. So did the order of nuns affiliated with Benedictine College. Jokes started rolling in. At the 2024 ESPY Awards, which Butker attended, tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams discussed the year in women’s sports onstage with “Abbott Elementary” star Quinta Brunson. Venus told the audience to “go ahead and enjoy women’s sports, like you would any other sports, because they are sports.”

Serena added the punchline: “Except you, Harrison Butker. We don’t need you.”

“At all. Like, ever,” Brunson added.

The Williams sisters made a joke at Harrison Butker’s expense at the 2024 ESPYS.

Venus: “So, go ahead and enjoy women’s sports like you would any other sports, because they are sports.”

Serena: “Except you, Harrison Butker.”

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— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) July 12, 2024

There were also those who rallied in support of Butker. Within a week of the speech, the women’s version of Butker’s jersey was out of stock in the official Chiefs Pro Shop, and his men’s jersey was listed among the top sellers on NFLshop.com. A fan made a large sign in support of Butker, placing it alongside the highway near Missouri Western State’s campus, where the Chiefs held training camp: “Thank you Harrison Butker for having the courage to speak the truth.”

The NFL released a statement distancing itself from Butker’s comments, saying his views are not those of the league. Mahomes and Kelce expressed their disagreement with Butker’s comments, too, but voiced their respect for him as a teammate.

In the days after Butker’s speech, those in Chiefs leadership felt all they could do was wait to see what happened when Butker returned for OTAs. They were surprised, not only by the amount of attention the speech drew but that Butker had agreed to make a speech at all. While the Chiefs know Butker is devoutly religious, he has never been especially aggressive in sharing his beliefs. For Butker’s part, when Benedictine College asked him to be its commencement speaker just days after Super Bowl LVIII, he initially declined before reconsidering.

“I try to protect my privacy as much as possible, but I’ve been in the league seven years and I do have a platform,” Butker said. “With that comes people who want me to state what I believe to be very important.”

All eyes were on Butker, and his interactions with his teammates, on that first day back in the locker room. He did crossword puzzles in the training room with some of the defensive linemen. He chatted with other teammates. And for the Chiefs, it seemed clear that, while this was an understandably big issue outside their facility, it wasn’t going to be a problem inside it.

“Ever since that speech, there’s been tons of conversations in the locker room, guys connecting and trying to understand each other,” Butker said. “It’s been a beautiful thing to see. That’s what’s so special about sports. There’s not many sports where you have 50 to 100 guys with a bunch of different beliefs and we’re all fighting together to win.”

Sitting in a special teams meeting on June 6, Butker heard a commotion behind him. Then he felt the jolt of someone kicking his chair. “I turned around,” Butker said, “and B.J. wasn’t doing well.”

The kicker sprinted out of the meeting room and to the Chiefs’ training room, alerting assistant trainers Julie Frymyer and David Glover. By that point, B.J. Thompson, a 25-year-old defensive end, was in the throes of a seizure.

Within minutes, vice president of sports medicine and performance Rick Burkholder and his staff — Frymyer, Glover, Tiffany Morton and Evan Craft — and Dr. Jean-Philippe E Darche, a former center who played nine seasons in the NFL, worked together to resuscitate Thompson, who fell to the floor after going into cardiac arrest. He was taken by ambulance to the University of Kansas Medical Center and was placed on a ventilator under heavy sedation.

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The NFL requires every team to practice its emergency action plan before every game and during the workweek at its training facility.

“We practiced on (that) Monday with a group called Walters Incorporated, who comes in and educates us and goes through scenarios like we went through,” Burkholder said.

Thompson woke up in a stable condition and was responsive within 24 hours. A week after being released from the hospital, he rejoined his teammates, making his first public appearance for the Chiefs’ Super Bowl ring ceremony at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.

📹VIDEO: #Chiefs BJ Thompson walks the red carpet ahead of Thursday’s ring ceremony– just one week after going into cardiac arrest during a team meeting @KSHB41 pic.twitter.com/gyAbJXTLkH

— Aaron Ladd (@aaronladdtv) June 14, 2024

Thompson, a second-year player who was selected in the fifth round of the 2023 draft, was working to contribute as a role player on defense and special teams after appearing in only the regular-season finale as a rookie. After his release from the hospital, he spent several days watching practice. He’ll start this season on the non-football injury list, which will give him more time to go through several medical evaluations before he can be cleared to participate in football activities again. Reid said Thompson could return to the practice field as early as November.

The Chiefs’ offseason drama extended beyond their football operations. Two weeks after the parade shooting, Hunt spoke publicly at a news conference inside Arrowhead about the future of the 52-year-old venue. The Chiefs unveiled renderings of what they hoped would be the next major renovations — changes included enhanced suites, video boards and club lounges. The renovations were projected to cost $800 million; Hunt said he and his family would contribute $300 million.

During the news conference, the NFL Players Association released the findings of its second annual survey, team-by-team report cards that assess players’ working conditions and environments. The Chiefs ranked 31st among the NFL’s 32 teams. The bad news kept coming when, a month later, voters in Jackson County, Mo., rejected an extension of the three-eighths-cent sales tax on a ballot initiative that would have funded stadium renovations for the Chiefs and Kansas City Royals. The margin of defeat was overwhelming: 58 percent voted no.

None of that stopped Hunt from investing in the on-field product. He signed Reid, Veach and Donovan to contract extensions through the 2029 season, with Reid earning $25 million per year, becoming the league’s highest-paid coach. Having already signed Mahomes to the longest contract in the league (which runs through the 2031 season), Hunt authorized Veach and Reid to sign Kelce, Butker, pass rusher Chris Jones and center Creed Humphrey to new deals, each one becoming the highest-paid player at their position. If the Chiefs fall short of a three-peat, it won’t be because the organization didn’t invest in its upcoming mission.

As he left the field after Super Bowl LVIII, there was one thing on Travis Kelce’s mind. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

The Chiefs endured an offseason that required unique resilience. Perhaps the most meaningful sign of that resilience came not in the days or months, but the minutes after Super Bowl LVIII in February. Kelce, exhausted after the overtime victory that ended the longest season of his career, took a moment to celebrate on the field.

Then, during a long, slow walk back to the locker room, he delivered a simple message: “We’re doing this again next year.”

(Top photos, left to right: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images; Courtney Culbreath / Getty Images; Michael Owens / AP)