Travis Kelce discusses pay disparity for NFL tight ends

One of the ways a team can learn how to remain competitive in the National Football League—or any sport for that matter— is to learn to leverage various advantages when they're available. In the NFL, one such move is about finding and utilizing a productive tight end.

The Kansas City Chiefs have the best tight end in the game in Travis Kelce, a player who has shattered nearly every record for production thus far in his career and set high marks in both catches and touchdowns. He appeared among the top pass catchers in almost every category, but somehow he's making a fraction of what others who are similarly productive are making (or not even close).

Tyreek Hill signed a deal worth $30 million per year. The Raiders are paying Davante Adams $28M per season. Even A.J. Brown is getting $25M from the Eagles. Meanwhile, Kelce is averaging $14.3M per season on a deal signed back in 2020. That means the Chiefs get the same sort of production from their primary pass catcher for 50 of the cost of other elite players.

In a recent profile in Vanity Fair, Kelce spoke openly about the ways the NFL treats its positions differently. Sure, Kelce could have made more money along the way, but he also knows the winning culture has benefits all its own.

“When I saw Tyreek go and get 30 [million] a year, in the back of my head, I was like, man, that’s two to three times what I’m making right now,” he says. “I’m like, the free market looks like fun until you go somewhere and you don’t win. I love winning. I love the situation I’m in.”

"You see how much more money you could be making and, yeah, it hits you in the gut a little bit. It makes you think you’re being taken advantage of ... I don’t know if I really pressed the gas if I would get what I’m quote-unquote worth, but I know I enjoy coming to that building every single day.”

In this way, Kelce sounds like Mahomes, a player who knows he could eke out more money to some level but has to ask himself what's worth it if it limits the club. Still at some point, the NFL should do something to close the gap between wideouts and tight ends if the statistics involved are similar.