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Insider Reveals Why Travis Kelce and Chiefs Could Part Ways at the End of 2024 Season
The Kansas City Chiefs rewarded star tight end Travis Kelce with a lucrative raise, but structured it to preserve future flexibility regarding his playing career amid potential off-field opportunities.
All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce has transcended mere football stardom to become a mainstream celebrity and business mogul. His loud, outgoing personality and relationship with pop megastar Taylor Swift have raised his public profile immensely.
As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk explains, "For (Travis) Kelce, if he gets offered (for instance) $30M to star in an action movie that shoots in Bora Bora from August to November of 2025, he'd tap out." Opportunities like major acting roles could provide Kelce extremely lucrative exit ramps from the grind and physical toll of NFL seasons.
The 34-year-old admitted to Vanity Fair last summer that his agents frequently remind him how underpaid he is compared to his star power. "It makes you think you're being taken advantage of," Kelce said candidly. With his booming popularity and business success, walking away from football becomes an increasingly appealing option.
Raise Rewards On Travis Kelce's Dominance
To reward Kelce's sustained elite play and head off a potential holdout, the Chiefs prioritized getting a new deal done this offseason. However, they sought to preserve future flexibility regarding his playing career.
As Florio reported, "The Chiefs ripped up the two years that were left and put two new years in. The Chiefs gave Kelce a $4 million raise for 2024, no strings attached, pushing his salary to $17 million."
The key detail is that "For 2025, the $17.5 million he's due to make becomes fully guaranteed on the third day of the 2025 league year." This relatively small window gives Kansas City time to evaluate if then 35-year-old Kelce's play has started declining before locking in that 2025 money.
"If the Chiefs didn't want to at least preserve the option, the 2025 salary would be fully guaranteed from the get-go," Florio noted. "And if this was just a funding issue for next year, the guarantee could have vested immediately after the next Super Bowl."
Travis Kelce Focused on Three-Peat
For now, Kelce remains laser-focused on helping the Chiefs try to become the first team to "three-peat" as Super Bowl champions since the NFL-AFL merger. After their Super Bowl LVIII victory, he told ESPN "I want that three-peat."
The raising of his 2024 salary makes enduring two more seasons' physical pounding worth it financially. However, Kelce has frequently mused about walking away, telling Vanity Fair he thinks about retirement "nonstop."
His off-field business portfolio is rapidly expanding. As Martenzie Johnson of Andscape detailed, Kelce's companies span tech, nutrition, restaurants and more. His "New Heights" podcast with brother Jason could soon fetch an "eight-figure deal" according to reports.
Travis Kelce Balancing Football Grind With Booming Businesses
For a professional athlete, Kelce's wide array of successful business interests are exceptionally rare. Typically, player forays into media, restaurants or other sectors occur after their playing careers, not smack in the prime.
The combination of Kelce's immense athletic prowess, unmistakable larger-than-life personality, and blossoming business empire put the Chiefs in a difficult position. Letting him hit free agency could have jeopardized their championship window by alienating their superstar tight end.
However, locking in long-term salary guarantees and cap implications for Kelce's declining years also carries major risk. Compromising on the two-year structure, including the 2025 salary safeguard, allows Kansas City flexibility.
For his part, Kelce seems content playing at least two more seasons with Patrick Mahomes. But he hinted to Vanity Fair that major life changes could come swiftly if the right opportunities arise: "I'm just waiting on that big curveball to hit — whether it's SNL or late-night or whatever the heck it is."
The bottom line is the Chiefs rewarded Kelce's stardom and production while preserving substantial optionality regarding the expected final years of his football career. It was a wise move safeguarding their long-term future if his off-field career takes precedence in the coming seasons.
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