Kayla Nicole Awkwardly Name-Drops Travis Kelce During Sports Betting Gig

Kayla Nicole was put in a tough spot at her new job ... being forced to talk about her famous ex-boyfriend, Travis Kelce, when breaking down some sports betting -- and yeah, it's pretty awkward.

It all went down on the "I Am Athlete Daily Show" ... a program where Nicole discusses upcoming wagers with Brandon Marshall, Aqib Talib and Tad Prescott.

Naturally, "Monday Night Football" was a topic of conversation ... which means the crew chatted about the Week 5 matchup between the New Orleans Saints and Kelce's Kansas City Chiefs.

In a clip from the show, you can see Nicole happily praising Patrick Mahomes ... even calling him the "G.O.A.T." at one point.

But the mood switched up when it came time to talk Taylor Swift's boyfriend.

"A slow start for the guy Travis Kelce," Nicole said to Prescott in a less-than-thrilled tone. "Do you think he's gonna get more than 58.5 receiving yards?"

Then all of a sudden, Nicole's voice amped back up for questions regarding Derek Carr and Alvin Kamara.

Remember, Nicole and Kelce dated for years before breaking up for good in 2022.

One year later, Kelce started dating Taylor Swift ... and the Swifties have bombarded Nicole's Instagram comments ever since "Traylor" became a thing.

Nicole has been handling it well nonetheless ... and her 786K followers have supported her through it all -- including the unpleasant moment she had to bring up her ex.

"She kept it professional and classy. She’s moved on. It’s the Swifties who go on the attack and she’s not lowering herself to that nonsense," one fan said.

"She does her job and she’s never come out publicly and attached TK or TS. She’s always kept it 💯… she doesn’t need her significant other to put her on the map. She’s putting herself there… next!!"