Travis Kelce is hitting some nice contractual escalators that will pay him healthy bonus money in 2019 for the Chiefs.
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has already enjoyed a very memorable season. Earlier this year, he set a National Football League record when he clocked over 1,000 yards receiving on the year, his fourth consecutive year of doing so. That set him apart from every other tight end in history with a run of consistent production previously unheard of in the league’s storied history.
To set the record, Kelce only needed 11 yards receiving on Sunday, but he was able to shatter that mark and then some with his best performance of the season in the snow against the Denver Broncos. In Week 15, Kelce caught 11 passes for 142 receiving yards, and he shows no signs of slowing down.
While Kelce has only eclipsed that 100 yard mark twice this year, he’s enjoyed three of his most productive games in the last four weeks, breaking the 90-yard mark three times in that stretch. He had 90 yards against the Oakland Raiders, 92 against the L.A. Chargers and then 142 against Denver on Sunday. With this current level of productivity, he’s going to earn some healthy bonuses when all is said and done.
Per Joel Corry, cap analyst and CBS Sports contributor, Kelce is due a nice bonus of $375,000 if he reaches 1,200 receiving yards on the year. He’s already at 1,131 with two games to go that the Chiefs need to win. That means the starters are not only likely to play in Week 17 but also that the team cannot afford to simply coast to season’s end. They’re still in the hunt for the No. 2 seed for a first-round bye, but that means they must win out.
Corry also mentions that any bonus for Kelce is doubled if the Chiefs qualify for the postseason which means that bonus hits $750K instead if Kelce simply averages 35 yards per game from here on out. Kelce’s lowest output of this entire seasons is 6 catches for 44 yards against the Denver Broncos the first time around.
Here’s to Kelce enjoying nearly a million more dollars in bonus money for yet another productive season. Here’s hoping a Super Bowl win makes this the most memorable one yet.