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The Chiefs signed Travis Kelce to a two-year contract extension on Monday that common supervisor Brett Veach stated would make him the league’s highest-paid tight finish whereas preserving him with the Tremendous Bowl champions via the 2027 season.
Kelce signed a four-year, $57.25m extension with Kansas Metropolis in 2020, which adopted a $46m, five-year deal that he signed in 2016. The brand new extension would maintain the 34-year-old Kelce with the membership till he’s 38 years previous.
Veach didn’t present a monetary breakdown of the newest extension, however he did name it a precedence to “alter his contract” and that “it is rather becoming that Travis is now the highest-paid tight finish in these two years”.
ESPN reported the deal is price $34.25m with $17m totally assured for this season and a lot of the relaxation to be assured on the third day of the 2025 league yr.
In a video posted to X by the Chiefs, Kelce stated it was “an honor and a pleasure and I can’t wait to get after it these subsequent two years … Chiefs endlessly”.
“Arduous to place into phrases what Travis means to this group and this metropolis,” Veach advised native reporters on Zoom. “Only a actually special occasion and second for this group to as soon as once more acknowledge arguably one of many best tight ends to ever do it.”
Kelce, who was chosen by the Chiefs within the third spherical of the 2013 draft, already is their profession chief with 11,328 yards receiving. He wants eight receptions to succeed in 917 and move Corridor of Fame tight finish Tony Gonzalez for that file, and three landing catches would give him 77, dropping Gonzalez to No 2 on that franchise record.
Most significantly, Kelce has helped Kansas Metropolis win back-to-back Tremendous Bowls and three titles previously 5 years.
“Once in a while you’ve gotten one in every of these guys which might be outliers,” Veach stated, “and Travis is a type of gamers. It’s not even Could but and right this moment we had an opportunity to get on the market in section two (off the offseason) and Travis was the primary one in line.”
It’s not simply on the sector the place Kelce is a star, both.
His relationship with pop icon Taylor Swift has taken him to a different degree of movie star, whereas appearances on reveals akin to Saturday Night time Reside have helped to make him a family title. He hosts some of the common podcasts throughout a number of genres along with his brother and former Eagles heart Jason Kelce, and he’ll quickly host a quiz present on Amazon Prime.
But it surely all started on the sector, the place Kelce has lengthy been thought of probably the greatest tight ends within the recreation.
He missed the season opener with a knee harm final season, and he skipped the regular-season finale when the Chiefs already have been assured of their playoff seeding. These two video games value him the possibility to increase his streak of 1,000-yard seasons to eight; he completed with 984 yards on 93 catches with 5 landing receptions.
When the postseason rolled round, Kelce as soon as once more took his efficiency to a different degree.
He had seven catches for 71 yards in a wild-card win over Miami, the fourth-coldest recreation in NFL historical past. He had 5 catches for 75 yards and two scores in a divisional win in Buffalo. He had 11 catches for 116 yards and a landing within the AFC title recreation in Baltimore, and capped all of it with 9 catches for 93 yards within the Tremendous Bowl towards San Francisco.
Alongside the best way, Kelce batted down rumors of retirement, saying: “I’ve no purpose to cease taking part in soccer. I find it irresistible.”
“The percentages of somebody taking part in this far into their 30s is low,” Veach acknowledged, “nevertheless it does occur. There are unicorns within the occupation and Travis is a type of. He’s proven no indicators of slowing down.”
The extension for Kelce comes one week after the Chiefs introduced they’d signed Veach, coach Andy Reid group president Mark Donovan to contract extensions. The group didn’t say how lengthy these offers would final, however they’re anticipated to maintain the three most central management figures with the franchise via the 2029 season.
Patrick Mahomes, whom Kelce considers one in every of his closest associates, is below contract via the 2031 season. All-Professional defensive sort out Chris Jones, the third piece of their three-player core, signed a five-year, $158.75m deal in March.
Mahomes celebrated the extension by posting to X, “I advised yall I’ll by no means let him go away!! Congrats my man! @tkelce”.
Together with rewarding Kelce for his continued superlative play, Veach pointed to a number of younger gamers who will likely be due contract extensions within the subsequent couple of years as one more reason for getting the tight finish’s long-term state of affairs sorted out.
“We do have some youthful guys arising and like at all times, as soon as the draft settles down, we’ll have an opportunity to deal with that,” he stated. “Travis is an outlier right here. Everyone knows that. Once you speak about Travis and his profession and his legacy right here, that is one thing we wished to knock out of the park early on and shift our focus onto the younger guys arising.”
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