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Travis Kelce approached the Kansas City Chiefs, requesting a pay raise for the final two seasons of his contract. Despite acknowledging the negotiation challenges, Kelce made it clear that he wouldn’t resort to holding out. This stance was well-understood by the Chiefs, given Kelce’s 11 seasons with the team.
“I’m not a guy that sits out,” Kelce said on the “New Heights” podcast with his brother, Jason. “I’m not a guy that holds out. “I am a guy that loves coming into the building, and the Chiefs know that. So, for them to want to get this done for me knowing how much blood, sweat and tears that I put into this thing, I’m extremely grateful.”
New Deal: Highest Paid Tight End
This week, the Chiefs granted Kelce the raise, making him the highest-paid NFL tight end with an average salary of $17.125 million over the next two seasons. Kelce’s previous earnings were set at $12 million for the upcoming season and $16.25 million in 2025.
Acknowledgment to Chiefs Management
“I’m so excited and so thankful to this organization for getting this done. I feel appreciated and compensated the right way, and on top of that I got to move the needle for the tight end room,” he said. “It’s everyone else’s job to keep making that tight-end AAV [average annual value] go up and up with every single contract that’s better than mine in the future.
“I’m so fricking thankful to [general manager] Brett Veach, [president] Mark Donovan, Coach [Andy] Reid — Big Red, I love you, big guy — and obviously [team owner] Clark Hunt. The Hunt family has been unbelievable to not only myself and this Kansas City community, but they’ve just been so generous since I’ve been here in making it feel like home. For the past [11] years I’ve been able to make this place exactly that, and I’ve loved every single second of it and I’m going to love the next two years playing here in Kansas City and we’ll see what happens after that.”
Team Cohesion and Financial Investments
Kelce’s raise follows the recent extension given to defensive tackle Chris Jones in March. The Chiefs also gave quarterback Patrick Mahomes a raise last fall.
“We got the nucleus together and paid, baby,” Kelce said. “Everybody got paid this offseason. I love it.”
This report used information from ESPN.
