These NFL stars are rewriting the narrative of professional athletes being tough all the time. Toughness, according to the brothers, includes feeling feelings and loving your people hard.

Jason and Travis Kelce, who last year became the first brothers on opposing NFL teams to play in the Super Bowl, were in the news way before Taylor Swift attended her first Kansas City Chiefs game in September.

Fans have long admired the Kelce brothers for their talent on the field, their co-hosted chart-topping podcast, their “Saturday Night Live” appearances and their unwavering love for each other, which was clearly outlined in the Amazon Prime documentary “Kelce.”

Travis Kelce started dating Taylor Swift, the record-breaking pop phenom, last summer. But even with the crossover of pop stardom and NFL football, two major categories of American life, we are not drawn to the Kelce brothers solely because of Swift.

Instead, we are captivated by the brothers’ authenticity, which has pulled us in and captured our collective attention. They have given the public an inside look at how their close relationship shapes their daily lives, an approach that is less common for high-profile athletes.

It’s not new for siblings to be in the same league and play against each other (as examples, Peyton and Eli Manning and Serena and Venus Williams). But it is rare to have an inside look at sibling dynamics across professional sports – despite how much we may want the details of our favorite athletes all the time.

During last year’s Super Bowl, we watched the ins and outs of a deeply devoted family. The Kelce brothers have jumped into these moments without hesitation and with their arms wide open for each other, often laughing at the sheer hilarity of the attention.

After the final snap of the 2023 Super Bowl, won by Travis’ Kansas City Chiefs, the emotional embrace we watched them share was more than a recognition of a game and seemed to be a mutual exhale of the pressures of such an event.

Whether it’s the overt emotion they share or their close relationship, we have been engrossed by their pure dedication to brotherly love. How often do we see athletes share their feelings with such vulnerability and authenticity?

Kelce brothers aren’t afraid to show their feelings

In my work with athletes, I aim for the processing of emotion – part of that is because stuffing feelings is not great for the mind and body or our relationships. And when athletes process their emotions, they make performance gains.

In the “Kelce” documentary, Travis shares how he lost his collegiate scholarship and was kicked off the team after a random drug test. He goes on to discuss what that meant as the younger brother, knowing his family, especially Jason, must be disappointed.

It was an emotional admission by Travis, crying through what it felt like to let them down. Jason discusses how his job was to show confidence in his brother – with tears in his eyes, he expressed his empathy and steadfast belief in Travis. And if you didn’t already know, Travis chose his NFL jersey number for his brother – ’cause Jason was born in 1987.

Professional football requires toughness; we see players forge through injury to get the job done. We see the hits, the cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy and the other difficulties players face to stay in the league. It’s a brutal sport, and one that requires a mind-over-matter mentality drilled into football players since their early days of Pop Warner.

When we do see emotion in the league, it’s often brief, juxtaposing the intensity required to play. As I have worked with athletes across my career, I watch the fear and worry about what it would mean to actually feel feelings, not just stuff them down into the abyss.

The Kelce brothers have demonstrated how to feel without abandon. And professionally their performances have not suffered.

We see it in how they perform under pressure, how they handle the spotlight and how they balance their personal lives with the job.

Across their roles, the Kelce brothers are showing us the science in real time; being attuned to our emotional selves means efficiency gains and reaching the highest mountaintops in sports.

Jason Kelce took in the moment before final play with Eagles

There was a close-up on Jason Kelce during his final snap with the Philadelphia Eagles this season, presumed to be his last play on the field given pending retirement. We watched one of the most admired centers in NFL history walk up to the line of scrimmage, then tearfully peer around the stadium before he gets into position as to take it all in – an athlete completely in tune with the present moment.

This is a skill we teach in therapy – notice what’s happening around you and allow that energy to fuel you.

When we see raw emotion in the Kelce brothers, it begs us to pause and witness the deep connection they have to their feelings. These are two high-profile, elite athletes who are the best at their positions and authentically show up to their feelings without apology. They don’t push their feelings down or tough it out. There isn’t shame or embarrassment.

Yes, mental toughness is needed in performance – it is a learned skill that allows athletes to push through and find additional gears. But Jason and Travis show us that athletes also can be whole humans. I want to bottle up their vulnerability and pass it out to every young athlete.

This is who the Kelce brothers are to their bones. They are rewriting the limiting narrative of professional athletes being tough all the time. Toughness, according to the Kelce brothers, includes feeling feelings and loving your people hard. They know who they are and what they care about.

While Taylor Swift may get people in the door to watch the NFL, our obsession with the Kelce brothers is not because of her. It is because of them, being exactly who they are, feelings and all.