Chiefs players wear custom Travis Kelce T-shirts before Chargers game in support of criticism-plagued tight end

The Kansas City Chiefs are sticking together.

The team's wide receivers Rashee Rice, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman all wore custom Travis Kelce T-shirts before their game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday after the tight end faced criticism about how he's been playing .

According to CBS Sports reporter Tracy Wolfson, it was Rice who purchased the shirts for the team "to honor their leader and a guy who has mentored all of them."

The front of the black T-shirts features Kelce's first and last name written in Chiefs colors and different images of the athlete playing football.

The back of the shirt read, "Dreamathon," the brand responsible for the custom tee , with more images of Kelce, 34, in uniform.

While a Kelce shirt isn't currently available on Dreamathon's site, fans can score one honoring players like Patrick Mahomes ($60).

This is appears to be a recurring theme for the offensive players; last week, they wore the same Dreamathon designs in support of running back Isiah Pacheco, who was injured on the Sept. 15 game against the Bengals.

The team's support of the "No Heights" podcast co-host comes after he has faced public scrutiny for his slow start to the 2024 to 2025 NFL season.

Last Monday, former ESPN analyst Todd McShay blamed Kelce's recent playing skills on his newfound fame and "jet-setting" lifestyle amid his romance with Taylor Swift .

"Every show I watch, every pregame show , halftime show, postgame show, weekday show, every broadcast I watch for the last few weeks, it's like, are we not allowed to say that he's out of shape?" McShay, 47, bluntly asked.

"That he's been partying all offseason? He's been jet-setting around with the most famous person probably in the entire world."

McShay then mentioned how Kelce had been drinking and partying earlier this month in New York City with the "Bad Blood" singer, also 34, while attending the US Open .

"I want you to take a picture from preseason 2022 and then take a picture preseason 2024, they're barely the same human being," he said.

Two days later, Travis addressed his game on his podcast with his brother, Jason Kelce, admitting that he could be playing "better" football.

"We're finding ways to win games, but we're not playing our best football," he said on last week's episode of his " New Heights " podcast.

"Everybody can clean it up. I think everyone saw my drop in the fourth quarter with that crucial third down."

The "Grotesquerie" actor said that he was "trying to do too much before putting the ball away" and that he needed to focus more on "making the play in big-time moments."

"I think with how defenses are playing us right now, I'm not really getting a lot of opportunities to make plays down the field, but not using that as an excuse," he continued.

"Moving forward, [I'm] still trying to make sure that I can help the team out in that regard."