Although Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce didn’t take their romance public until late September 2023, Kansas City Chiefs’ defensive coach Dave Merritt revealed the relationship was happening for quite a while before then.
While chatting on The Sports Shop WIth Reese and K-Mac podcast, Merritt stated that the Bad Blood hitmaker was seeing Kelce secretly.
“When she started to come around, it was privately,” he said. “She was coming into the stadiums without people really knowing until the camera put a big spotlight on it.”
Merritt further explained that Taylor Swift not only helped Travis Kelce change for the better, but she also brought some positive changes to the NFL team. “She actually affected the team in a positive way. It wasn’t a negative way.”
“Everybody was excited and Travis was happy. So when my player, a brother, is happy beside me, that helps me and that encourages me and so Travis came in there a different man. So, she helped us.”
Merritt then added he considers Swift a “little sister” to the team.
Taylor Swift Spoke About Her Relationship With Travis Kelce in ‘Person of the Year’ Interview
During her TIME 2023 Person of the Year interview, Taylor Swift opened up about when she and Travis Kelce started dating.
“This all started when Travis very adorable put me on blast on his podcast,” Swift explained. which I thought was metal as hell… We started hanging out right after that.”
During the podcast episode she was referencing, Kelce called out Swift for not having one-on-one sessions before or after an Eras Tour shows.
“I was disappointed that she doesn’t talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings,” he said. “So I was a little butt-hurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her.”
One of the bracelets Kelce made actually had his phone on it. He was planning to give that bracelet to her, but was unable to. “She doesn’t meet anybody, or at least she didn’t want to meet me, so I took it personal.”
Swift further shared that she and Kelce started seeing each other earlier than what the public suspected. “So we actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to get to know each other.”
Taylor Swift pointed out that by the time she went to the first game, she and Travis Kelce were a couple. “I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game? We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date.”