Travis Kelce
He arrived off waivers in 2014, picked up by IronCity Mudslingers. Across 12 seasons and 152 starts he played for IronCity Mudslingers and Washed UP, and 151 of those starts were for Washed UP.
His best season was 2022: 199 points across 15 starts, +104.1 above replacement for Washed UP, the best tight end in football that year. That is part of a career worth +470.4 PAR, 4th in league history. He started for 1 championship team (2016), producing +24.4 in playoff weeks across his career.
The tail was not kind: 2024 came in at -11.4 across 14 starts. He finishes on 1st in the Washed UP Ring of Honor and the Washed UP All Cool Pete Team at TE.
### Forty-eight hours in August 2015
The most valuable career in this franchise's history changed hands twice in two days, and neither team that moved him has recovered from it.
2014, IronCity claims him off the wire. Free, no draft cost. Wayne starts him once, in a week he finishes at −6.4, and that is the whole of their relationship. Kelce spends the rest of that season on the bench.
25 August 2015, IronCity trades him to there goes the Naberhood for Alfred Blue and C.J. Spiller, two running backs. In the archive this is a minor preseason depth swap and nothing about it reads as significant.
26 August 2015, Pete trades him to Washed UP for pick 1.09 and a third-round swap, 3.02 for 3.09. Pete owned Travis Kelce for one day.
Three picks changed hands. Two came to Pete and one left, and it matters which is which, so they are listed apart.
What Pete got, and what he did with it at the draft nine days later:
What Pete gave up in the swap:
Dave St. got Brandon Marshall, not Pete. The 3.02 was Pete's slot and he handed it over in the swap; Washed UP spent it. Every figure in the second table belongs to Washed UP.
All three picks went the wrong way for Pete. The two he received returned −36 between them across eight starts. The one he gave up returned +40 to the man he gave it to. Washed UP came out of a single afternoon with Travis Kelce, Brandon Marshall, and the better end of the swap.
2015 to 2025, Washed UP keeps him for eleven straight seasons. 151 starts, +476.8 PAR, the longest hold this franchise has ever run at a scarce position, five seasons as the TE1 in football, and the core of the 2016 title.
The pick Pete took back became DeVante Parker, worth −19.8. That is a net swing of 496.6 points above replacement, the largest of any transaction on file, and it is the reason this franchise's entire identity is the long hold.
The lineage matters for one more reason. Kelce is counted in the trades read, not the wire read. IronCity got him free; Washed UP, who got the career, paid a first-round pick for him.
The career
One axis. Tenure above, the board below, PAR by season in the plot. Twelve seasons on the axis, 2014 to 2025.
Season by season
| Season | Franchise | Starts | Points | NFL rank | Playoff PAR | PAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | IronCity Mudslingers | 1 | 1.9 | TE9 | — | −6.4 |
| 2015 | Washed UP | 14 | 108.2 | TE8 | −0.5 | −1.8 |
| 2016 · title | Washed UP | 15 | 137.2 | TE1 | +11.7 | +31.3 |
| 2017 | Washed UP | 13 | 136.2 | TE2 | — | +47.8 |
| 2018 | Washed UP | 13 | 174.9 | TE1 | — | +79.0 |
| 2019 | Washed UP | 13 | 128.3 | TE1 | — | +41.0 |
| 2020 | Washed UP | 14 | 193.0 | TE1 | +8.2 | +98.9 |
| 2021 | Washed UP | 14 | 154.0 | TE2 | — | +44.9 |
| 2022 | Washed UP | 15 | 199.2 | TE1 | +4.9 | +104.1 |
| 2023 | Washed UP | 12 | 112.8 | TE3 | — | +31.9 |
| 2024 | Washed UP | 14 | 82.0 | TE9 | — | −11.4 |
| 2025 | Washed UP | 14 | 111.8 | — | — | +11.1 |