Tight end Travis Kelce had a nice and perhaps unexpected debut season for the Kansas City Chiefs last year. He led the Chiefs in catches (67) and receiving yards (862) and for the most part was the one receiver the Chiefs could count on in an otherwise lethargic passing game.

That has coach Andy Reid and the Chiefs dreaming of better things from Kelce. They felt comfortable enough with him to release veteran tight end Anthony Fasano, thus making available more playing time for Kelce.

Reid called Kelce elite this week at the NFL meetings in Phoenix.

“Absolutely,’’ Reid told reporters. “Tremendously talented. Loves to play the game. He’s like a little kid out there.

“You’d think the natural progression would be more and better and he was pretty good last year.’’

Kelce missed almost all of the 2013 season, which would have been his rookie year, because of an ailing knee. He was better last year, but the Chiefs weren’t quite comfortable giving Kelce a lot of playing time early in the season.

He forced his way into more of that with an eight-catch, 93-yard, one-touchdown game against the New England Patriots in Week 4.

“You could see the progress every week in a positive direction,’’ Reid said. “We kept adding to his menu there, plays that we wanted to dial up and formations and motions. Running backs and tight ends, they have to know what they’re doing with those. He continually got better with that as time went on.’’

Reid said Kelce played at about 250 pounds last season but wants him bigger this year. He indicated he believed Kelce could handle an additional 15 pounds without losing speed or quickness.

“It helps you in protection,’’ he said. “He’s got a good feel for that, kind of a knack. He got better at the line of scrimmage. He had dropped some weight early and he was able to gain some weight as we went on. He played as high as 265 at the college level, where I considered him a pretty good blocker. So he can function even with a little more weight added.’’