KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Quarterback Patrick Mahomes recently felt strongly enough about the season Travis Kelce is having that he took to Twitter to recommend the Kansas City Chiefs tight end for Offensive Player of the Year.

"If you look at history and you look at the seasons tight ends have had, he's got to have one of the best as far as catching the ball and being a playmaker on offense," Mahomes said. "That speaks for itself.

"It's truly a special season by a tight end and not just by a tight end but just a player, a game changer."

Mahomes was standing up for a teammate, as he frequently does, but it's also true Kelce may be headed where no tight end has gone before. He has 1,318 receiving yards and would break the NFL single-season record for a tight end by getting at least 60 yards on Sunday when the Chiefs play against the Atlanta Falcons at Arrowhead Stadium.

George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers has the record of 1,377 set in 2018.

Kelce could also become the first tight end to lead the league in receiving yards. For now he is second, 6 yards behind wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins of the Arizona Cardinals. Only one tight end has even finished second -- Kellen Winslow of the San Diego Chargers in 1980.

"Our league has had a handful of exceptional tight ends that have caught a lot of passes," New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton said. "I've never kept track of why one wouldn't be leading the league. But he's something else watching him."

Payton went on to describe Kelce's skills, describing him as someone with the abilities to lead the league.

"The thing that strikes me when I watch him is how smart he is. He's got a great feel for leverage, not just in setting up his routes but also in blocking or edging an end or a linebacker. He's got very good football instincts and those serve you well when you begin to recognize man [coverage] and zone and how to run certain routes. He's explosive. He's got strong, strong hands in traffic and then there's that level of confidence you see when he plays."

Kelce has been productive since he became a regular for the Chiefs in 2014, when he caught 67 passes. But two additions helped him become as productive as he is now, the first coming in 2016 when Tyreek Hill joined the Chiefs.

Kelce went from 72 catches and 875 yards in 2015 to 85 and 1,125 in 2016. He has had 1,000 yards in every season since, becoming the first tight end ever to have five straight seasons with so many yards.

"He's the deadliest threat in the National Football League," Kelce said of Hill. "You can't put a cap on his speed. He's the biggest big-play threat in the game. That's where it makes my job so much easier because he just draws so much attention."

Things have only gotten better with Mahomes throwing to him. In 2018, Mahomes' first season as a starter, Kelce caught 103 passes for a career-best 1,336 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Kelce's improvement over the years is evident. He has become better at finding holes in coverage, something he credits to his background as a quarterback.

"The biggest thing in terms of route running for me is knowing what the defense is in, knowing the coverage," he said. "Once you know the coverage, now you can start manipulating the defense. You can start to kind of trick them in where you're going to go and where you want to get open."

Kelce also has tremendous body control for a 260-pound player. That allows him to go and get many passes that other receivers can't.

An example came in the Chiefs' recent game against the Miami Dolphins. Kelce ran a route down the right sideline, stopped, reached back and jumped to catch the pass over a defender, who was in good position to break up the throw.

"Being able to get a big body to change direction, I think that's huge," Kelce said. "I don't think a lot of tight ends incorporate that enough. I got a lot of that from playing hockey when I was younger, being able to play on the inside and outside of skates, as well as on the basketball court, being able to put my foot into the ground and crossover.

"Just being able to incorporate other sports into my game has definitely helped me out."

Tight ends were for many years primarily blockers, which is one reason a player at that position has never led the league in receiving. Receiving tight ends started to become widespread around the league about 20 years ago, with former Chief Tony Gonzalez among those who started the trend.

"The passing game has changed," said Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, whose last NFL season as a player was in 1999. "Back in the days when I played, a lot of guys played with their hands in the dirt and made plays from that particular alignment. We have the flexibility to line Kelce up all over the field and take advantage of some of the new passing rules."

The Chiefs line up Kelce at so many different spots that he can't be considered a traditional tight end. He's lined up in the traditional tight end position 39% of the time, as opposed to 32% as a wide receiver and 26% as a slot receiver. He's lined up in the backfield the remainder of the snaps.

"Normally, [tight ends] are doing the shorter and intermediate routes as opposed to the longer routes that wide receivers do," Chiefs coach Andy Reid said, explaining why he believes a tight end has never led the league in receiving. "There have been a few that have fallen into that category that can kind of do both and Trav is one of those guys."