Travis Kelce ‘puts on a persona’ with his wild partying and drinking antics, insists Patrick Mahomes – who says his Chiefs teammate is actually ‘super intelligent’.

Taylor Swift‘s boyfriend has been letting his hair down in recent months following the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory in February and some of his behavior has left Swifties unimpressed.

Kelce, his brother Jason, Swift and his teammates enjoyed a huge night out to celebrate his third Super Bowl success in five seasons in Las Vegas in February.

He then attracted criticism for his wild behavior at the Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade in Kansas City after barely being able to stand up and speak while on stage.

Kelce was also slammed for continuing to party late into the night after the shooting at the parade that saw one person die and left roughly two dozen others injured.

Patrick Mahomes has insisted Travis Kelce’s wild partying and drinking antics are a ‘persona’

Kelce was forced to hit back at critics of his beer-guzzling graduation antics last month

A boozy Kelce had to be held up by his Chiefs teammates during their Super Bowl parade

He then returned to Vegas weeks later after visiting Swift in Australia, who was performing her Eras Tour, for a few more nights of debauchery with Mahomes and others.

Last month, Kelce’s drinking was again thrust into the spotlight after his beer-fueled graduation antics at New Heights Live. He chugged a beer when he picked up his diploma in Cincinnati.

The move did not go down well on social media, with fans claiming Swift must be ‘getting sick of this’ while body language expert Judi James wrote the ‘attention-seeking’ display indicated the NFL star will never ‘mature’.

But Mahomes has insisted that is not a fair reflection of Kelce, one of his closest friends who together make up one of the NFL’s most feared offensive pairings.

During an appearance on Logan Paul’s ‘Impaulsive’ show, Mahomes was asked about their relationship and whether Kelce is Mahomes’ favorite receiver. The quarterback replied: ‘Yeah 100 per cent. Just a good dude, man.

‘I think ya’ll met him but he just does a great job of working it and getting himself open.

‘He understands. He’s smart. He puts on this persona of “I’m partying, I’m drinking” but he’s really super intelligent.

‘When he gets on the football field and he gets open I just know where he’s going to be at the same time.

Kelce’s beer-chugging antics have not gone down well with Taylor Swift’s army of fans online 

Kelce was seen partying with Norwegian DJ Kygo at the XS Nightclub in Las Vegas last week

‘Our friendship built naturally. He’s kind of like me. He’s friends with all his boys he grew up with. I’m friends with all my boys I grew up with and we’ve all become this one big group.

‘I go on golf trips with some of his buddies without Travis there. It’s just that type of group we’ve got going. I’m going to keep him around for a few more years.’

Asked if he can keep up with Kelce, Mahomes replied: ‘Partying? No, I cannot. I used to I think and then I had kids. You got to pick and choose these days .

‘Jason has kids too so he has to pick and choose as well but when he chooses he can go. I think it’s got to be something in their blood.’

On the latest episode of the New Heights podcast, Kelce gave a recap of his latest outing to Las Vegas with Swift and Mahomes.

Kelce was in town with his quarterback for a gala and a charity golf outing benefitting his ’15 and the Mahomies’ foundation.

‘Back to the scene of the crime,’ Travis said, laughing while referring to the Super Bowl his Chiefs team had just won.

‘It’s always fun doing something exciting and getting everybody together for a great cause, man. 15 and the Mahomies, what Pat and Brittany Mahomes do for the community in KC, in their hometown community down there in Texas.

‘It’s just awesome to see how much money they can raise and how much support he gets everywhere he goes man because of how great of a guy he is.

‘It was awesome seeing a lot of the other familiar faces like [Andrew] Whitworth, Joe Haydn, Chandler Parsons, I mean it was a stud crew this year. Rob Riggle was having a blast, Eric Stonestreet you name it man. We had a bunch of really cool cats.

‘Got to see JJ Watt for a little bit, shook his hand, and told him we gotta get on the ice. We gotta get the boys on the ice, man. So hopefully the Kelce’s and the Watt’s can team up and have some fun hitting the puck around a little bit.

‘It’s always fun when you get somebody like Pat that can reach so many different lives.

‘And he’s so relatable and he does things the right way, you know that money is gonna really change some lives.’

Travis also said that he won the charity golf tournament, leading to videos of him chugging beer out of a trophy. ‘I don’t lose in Vegas, Jason,’ Travis told his brother.