With the offseason lull coming into focus for most teams now, it is far easier to speculate. And, one thing we've been speculating over for quite some time is the future of Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
At this stage, all signs point to Kelce hanging up the cleats in the very near future, even as soon as next offseason. A common and valid question by many Chiefs fans, in that same conversation, has been to ask just who the team is going to get to replace the future Hall of Famer?
Right now, maybe the perfect replacement for Kelce is actually sitting right here in the AFC West in Las Vegas Raiders tight end Michael Mayer.
With Brock Bowers commanding the bulk of the touches between the two of them, and Mayer entering a contract year, it makes a ton of sense that the Raiders would eventually trade the former Notre Dame standout. But, the Chiefs are unlikely to be on the receiving end, and not for the reason you think.
The Chiefs won't make a trade for Michael Mayer (but not because he's a Raider)
Of course, a trade within the division is fairly rare, but it isn't impossible to pull off. That's not the reason why Kansas City wouldn't pursue the fourth-year pro, though.
The biggest reason the Chiefs can't think about finding their Kelce replacement now is very simple: the money.
Kansas City currently has two tight ends totaling a cap hit of about $12 million between Kelce and Noah Gray. While that isn't a massive number, if you factor in the total cap space availabe is currently only just above $4 million, that's what does it.
Let's think about the Raiders making a move for Mayer. If they did so, with Mayer entering a contract year, the Chiefs would be wise to get an extension out of the way right now, right?
That would make sense.
Assuming the Chiefs offered Mayer a deal somewhere between his production thus far and what they believe he can be, that contract would have to average between $8-$11 million per season, right? That seems like a fair number for a guy who, with Patrick Mahomes and the path to being TE1, could put up top-12 tight end numbers.
Now, you're paying three tight ends a decent chunk of money in 2026 unless Gray is included in the trade.
Instead of trying to hash this Kelce replacement thing out, the Chiefs would more than likely only want to create additional space for one move right now, and that's to bring in Stefon Diggs.
If this was the year 2027 and Kelce was on his way out, and it just so happened to be Mayer's final year of his contract, then maybe things would be different. But, the way it is right now, the cards just aren't there for the Chiefs to plan ahead in this manner.
Add us as a preferred source on Google