Travis Kelce is back in Kansas City for his 14th and perhaps final season. With large salary cap hits due to several high-priced players, general manager Brett Veach used a little-known, seldom-used loophole in the NFL-NFL Players Association Collective Bargaining Agreement to retain Kelce on a one-year, $12 million deal while keeping his salary cap hit in 2026 very low and not setting the organization up for a large dead cap hit in 2027.
The contract details
According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, Kelce's $12 million is fully guaranteed. $3 million comes in the form of base salary, with another $9 million coming in a series of roster bonuses. There are another $3 million in incentives that could push his total compensation to $15 million. Breer also reported that Kelce's salary cap hit in 2026 is $4,896,667 with dead cap hits of $3,551,667 in both 2027 and 2028.
Typically, in a deal like this, where the team needs to keep the cap hit low on a one-year deal, they are committing to a large dead cap hit the year following. In this scenario, the dead cap hit in 2027 would be $7,103,334. But Kansas City will be able to avoid this situation next year.
The 50% rule
The 50% rule, also known as the "Deion Rule," named after Deion Sanders, stemming from a contract structure the Dallas Cowboys employed with him decades ago, is a specific provision of the CBA. This provision states that if the sum of a player's salary and roster bonuses in year two of a multi-year contract is less than 50% of their year one salary and roster bonuses, then the difference between the two is prorated across the life of the contract for salary cap purposes.
But Kelce signed a one-year contract, right? Well, yes and no.
Following Breer's report, technically, the contract is a three-year deal. Working back from the details reported in Breer's article and posted on Over The Cap, Kelce likely has a league minimum $1,345,000 salary for 2027, along with a $40M "poison pill" guaranteed salary in 2028 that vests in 2027. That 2027 salary is well below the $12M in earnings in 2026, so it triggers the Deion rule and prorates the $10,655,000 difference across the three years. The only money that hits Kansas City's salary cap books in 2026 is $1,345,000 of his $3M base salary, which matches his 2027 salary, plus the one-third proration of the $10,655,000 difference. This adds up to the reported $4,896,667 salary cap figure in 2026.
Avoiding a large 2027 dead cap hit
This accounting maneuver also helps Veach and company avoid taking on a large dead cap hit in 2027. Under normal void years rules, the dead cap that's parked in 2027 and 2028 would accelerate to 2027 at the end of this upcoming season, creating a $7,103,333 hit. But because Kansas City is using voidable years and not void years, the contract remains active as the 2027 league year begins.
As a result, the team can cut Kelce via a post-June 1 designation, accounting for his 2027 dead cap in 2027, with the remainder hitting their 2028 books. Because those dead cap hits are identical in those two years, they are effectively splitting that dead cap charge in two.
Breer references a "poison pill" $40 million guarantee in 2028 that will vest in June of 2027, and that date acts as the trigger for Kelce to retire or work out a new deal if he and the team want him to continue to play at Arrowhead Stadium in 2027.
It's a complicated, but creative structure that other teams, including the Jets and the Bucs in the past have used. It also helps Kansas City to maintain its long-standing strategy of not using void years, while taking advantage of spreading out cap hits after a player has left the team.