Eli Manning Says There's 'Nothing Wrong' with Travis Kelce Visiting Taylor Swift on His Bye Week (Exclusive)
"It is the time to rest the body... recharge yourself to get ready for that second half of the season," Eli Manning tells PEOPLE exclusively of NFL bye weeks
Travis Kelce's jetting-setting plans are Manning-approved.
When speaking with PEOPLE about their latest Quaker Oats campaign, father-son duo Archie and Eli Manning shed light on NFL bye weeks, while also sharing their opinion on how the Kansas City Chiefs star plans to spend his.
As Kelce's team — which currently stands 7-2 after nine weeks — enters their bye week, the Chiefs tight end has international plans to visit Taylor Swift abroad as she kicks off the South America leg of her Eras Tour, sources told PEOPLE yesterday.
"I think the bye week is a great time to get away from football and I think that's the idea," Eli, 42, tells PEOPLE exclusively on Thursday. "It is the time to rest the body, rest the mind a little bit, recharge yourself to get ready for that second half of the season."
Related: Why Travis Kelce Can Support Taylor Swift at the Eras Tour — All About His Football Bye Week
All 32 teams in the NFL get one bye week per season and don't play in any games during that stretch of time. The Kansas City Chiefs' bye week is week 10, which began fresh off the team's European victory in Germany where they defeated the Miami Dolphins 21-14 on Nov. 5.
"I think that disrupts things for these NFL players is when they play a game out of the country," adds Archie, 74, of the international games, while noting that he "didn't have a bye week" when he was quarterback in the NFL from 1971 to 1984, primarily with the New Orleans Saints.
Despite the travel and timezone's effect on the players, however, Archie acknowledges that "it's good for the league" and "great for the people in other parts of the world to see NFL players and see the game" — to which Eli agreed, saying that "it's a great opportunity" and "a great experience" for teams to play abroad.
Related: Jason Kelce Tries to Get Travis Kelce to Reveal If He's Going to South America with Taylor Swift
With the Chiefs' return from Germany, their bye week comes at a pivotal time for the players to "rest the body" and "rest the mind," says Eli, who adds, "It's a time to get away from football. It's a long season."
Typically, Eli says, teams in the NFL get "about four or five days off." Of how the retired New York Giants quarterback says he used to spend his bye week — "I might go back to my college, watch a game if they had a big game or go see my parents," he says.
Then, Eli says, the teams usually "come back on Sunday or Monday before the upcoming game to get some practices in and get back into things." However, the former QB says he thinks "a quarterback's mindset might be different than some of the other guys."
Related: Travis Kelce Is Planning to Go to Argentina for Taylor Swift Tour, Sources Say
While Eli says that bye weeks are "obviously not a time to go party and celebrate," citing Las Vegas, for example, he doesn't see anything "wrong" with Kelce's reason for traveling to South America.
"I think for him to travel, there's nothing wrong with traveling, going somewhere," says Eli. "Hey, if he wants to go and support his girlfriend and see her play a concert, I've got no problem with that."
Recently, sources told PEOPLE Kelce is headed to South America to support Swift at her upcoming Eras Tour stops. The “Cruel Summer” singer has three shows lined up in Buenos Aires for Thursday through Saturday, and the NFL star will be making time in his schedule to attend, added the source.
Meanwhile, the father-son Manning duo are involved with a tour of their own. "We're excited to kick off the first-ever Quaker Pregrain Tour, which is a tailgate that'll be visiting NFL stadiums and introducing the new Digital Quaker Playbook, which is 32 recipes representing all the NFL teams," Eli tells PEOPLE.
"That tour will end at the Super Bowl Taste of the NFL, where they'll make a $250,000 donation to Quaker's longtime partner, GENYOUth," he adds of the nonprofit that's dealing with youth wellness and health.
Archie says, "Quaker's been a part of our family forever, a staple in the Manning household, emphasis on nutrition." To which Eli adds, "So we're just excited to partner with Quaker on this."
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Read the original article on People.