KANSAS CITY, Mo. — To the victor belong the spoils, and after Patrick Mahomes, Chris Jones and even head coach Andy Reid and general manager Brett Veach received pay bumps for the team’s back-to-back Super Bowl triumphs, Monday was Travis Kelce’s day for the spoils.
The 34-year-old tight end signed a restructured contract featuring a $4 million raise and $17 million guaranteed in 2024. Most of the $34.25 million becomes fully guaranteed in March 2025, making Kelce the league’s highest-paid tight end with a two-year deal averaging $17.125 million.
That lifts Kelce ahead of the $17 million average per year the New York Giants are paying Darren Waller, the league’s previous highest-paid tight end.
Kelce appeared in a social media video posted by the Chiefs proclaiming he was “back at it again, baby!”
“I just see a little Super Bowl right there, man” Kelce said in the video. “It feels good to be in KC. I remember coming here 12 years ago, man. It’s an honor and a pleasure, and I can’t wait to get after it these next two years but no better than right now. Getting fired up for this year, just got out on the field with the boys, dog gone, we’re back at it, baby. Chiefs forever.”
Chiefs general manager Brett Veach called Monday “a really special day and moment for this organization” to reward arguably one of the best tight ends in NFL history, noting it was an offseason priority for club chairman and CEO Clark Hunt.
“Hard to put into words what Travis means to this organization, this city and was certainly a priority to adjust his contract for us,” Veach said. “And it was something that was important for Clark. Very fitting that Travis now the highest-paid tight end in these two years.”
Kelce had two years remaining on his contract with $30.25 million in cash through base salary, roster bonuses and workout bonuses. None of that cash was guaranteed, however. The adjusted contract will guarantee $17 million during the 2024 season and most of the remaining $17.25 million in March 2025 on the third day of the NFL new league year.
Precise details of the adjusted contract were not initially available to determine Kece’s revised salary and cap hit for the next season. He was scheduled to earn $12 million in base salary in 2024 and $16.25 million in 2025 with up to an additional $1 million in roster and workout bonuses available each season.
His cap hit was slated to be $15.46 million this season and $19.8 million in 2025.
By the end of the adjusted contract, Kelce is slated to have been paid more than $112.5 million in cash through the 2025 season.
Kelce is slated this season to become the highest-paid tight end in NFL history in career earnings. He’s earned $78.27 million through the 2023 season, trailing Jimmy Graham ($82.6 million) and Vernon Davis ($79.47 million).
The contract takes Kelce through 2025, a season during which he will turn 36. Although his record streak of seven consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons for a tight end concluded in 2023, his 984 yards last year rank No. 2 for an NFL tight end during their age 34 seasons behind only Pete Retzlaff (1190 in 1965 for Philadelphia. Kelce also owns the record for receiving yards by players in each season of their careers for ages 28 through 33.
Chiefs Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez holds the NFL record for receiving yards by a tight end at age 35 (875) and age 36 (930) during his time with Atlanta. Kelce has 11,328 yards receiving in his career and needs 3,799 yards to catch Gonzalez’s all-time tight end record of 15,127.
Veach believes Kelce can get there.
Every now and then you have one of these guys that are that are outliers,” Veach said. “And certainly Travis is one of those players. It’s funny, it’s not even May yet, and today, we had a chance to get out there in phase two. And guys were out there running around, and Travis was the first guy in line. And I mean, he looked like he was 28 years old.”
Veach said there are “unicorns in the profession, and Travis is one of those.” But he added he would have to wait and see how much longer Kelce will continue playing into his 30s.
“We’ll certainly celebrate this with him, and hopefully we can ride this thing even longer,” Veach said. “But he’s shown no signs of slowing down and everyone notices the kind of postseason he had and he just found that extra gear. These special ones, these special players are always able to find that extra gear and again, if anybody can do it, Travis can.”
