Travis Kelce deserves revisited contract from Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs owe Travis Kelce a contractual revisit given the likely directions being taken in the tight end market.

Given the emergence of Austin Hooper and Hunter Henry as free agent options this year, the market at tight end is ready to shift. The Kansas City Chiefs would do right by Travis Kelce to keep him paid accordingly.

Joel Corry from the Over the Cap recently noted that Austin Hooper of the Atlanta Falcons is likely going to lift the ceiling on what tight ends are paid in the NFL this offseason. For years, Jimmy Graham and his $10 million average have set the bar, but he expects one of these tight ends to make it $11 million instead—a small jump, but a new height nonetheless.

Kelce has been known as the best tight end in the game for years now, with his primary competition being Rob Gronkowski or George Kittle in that span. The idea of Graham making more annually, let alone Hooper or Henry, should frustrate Kelce a bit given his dominance at the position.

Even more frustrating for Kelce is that he’ll actually save the Chiefs a couple million next year at this time. In 2020, Kelce’s cap hit on his five-year, $46 million deal he signed in 2016 will hit just over $11.2 million. From there, however, it falls to $8.75 million in 2021, the final season on the books.

At this rate, Kelce looks like a three-year-old thoroughbred, a peak performer operating within an ideal system. Six straight years playing every game. Five straight Pro Bowls. Four straight 1,000 yard seasons, an NFL record. Since Patrick Mahomes arrived as the starting quarterback, Kelce has 200 catches for 2,565 yards and 15 touchdowns.

If you missed the point, Kelce has shown no signs of slowing down whatsoever, despite now being on the wrong side of 30. He’s a good bet in 2020 and 2021 both and, at this point, even 2022 looks rather safe. For that reason, the Chiefs should step in and provide a bit of security and good will for a player who could one day represent the team in Canton.

What a contract could resemble

Here’s how this could work: Mitchell Schwartz signed a five year deal with the team in 2016 with an average salary of $6.6 million, a contract that looked outdated within just a couple years as Schwartz finally earned the spotlight he’s been due for years as one of the NFL’s best right side protectors.

Last summer, Veach gave Schwartz a slight raise via a reworked deal that nullified the final two years of the original contract and added another year of security for both sides. The bonus for the Chiefs also included a lower cap number in the reworked year (2019, in this instance). Schwartz will be 32 in the final year of the deal.

It could make sense to give Kelce a three-year extension worth $33M to reward him with the title of NFL’s highest paid tight end (or tied for that position). The deal would void this year’s cap hit of $11.218M and next year’s $8.75. Instead, the Chiefs could backload it with a cap hit in 2020 of only $5M which would allow the final two years of the deal to handle approximately $14M each.

Why a deal is worth it?

The aforementioned contract idea might sound pricey on the back end, but the salary cap will go up each offseason, and the deals given to Anthony Hitchens, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Alex Okafor and others are easy outs at this point, dependent on roster needs and current performance, obvously, by those players.

In the present, with needs for some financial flexibility and the decisions looming on extensions for Chris Jones and/or Patrick Mahomes, unearthing $6 million from Travis Kelce, an unlikely source, could prove vital. Consider the contractual jumps from Frank Clark, Tyrann Mathieu, Tyreek Hill and others here as well.

Even more, it’s not long until George Kittle resets the market entirely. If you think Austin Hooper create a new ceiling, wait until Kelce 2.0 hits it in his prime as the main target on a Super Bowl contender. Kittle could make $11 million look like peanuts, relatively speaking. Locking up Kelce for another year before then could just be smart timing on the part of the Chiefs front office.

And that last line is what this is really about. Kelce is going strong and two more seasons seems like the safest bet they could make. The Chiefs can secure a third season to come from a perennial All-Pro when he’s likely still playing very well. And of course it’s a great gesture for a player who has been a fan favorite for quite some time. Lock him up with Schwartz and let the offense ride another few years together.