As one of the most productive players in football, Travis Kelce has earned the right to be paid at the highest level. But to him, there is something far more important.
“I signed my contract understanding what I had, and at the same time I put a lot into this,” Kelce said recently during OTAs. “And money in my mind is almost a secondary at this point in my career. I’m here for the legacy and I’m here to help make the Kansas City Chiefs the best team possible. That’s my main focus, that’s why I’m here.”
Over the last six seasons, Kelce has 7,269 yards receiving, the most of any NFL player. He’s also the only tight end in history to record six straight 1,000-yard seasons, accomplishing that feat in each of the last six years. While Kelce has four years remaining on a contract that averages a little over $14 million a year, his average salary ranks behind 49ers tight end George Kittle ($15 million a year) and it’s about half of what top receivers Davante Adams ($28 million) and Tyreek Hill ($30 million) make a year.
With Hill now in Miami, the Chiefs offense will look quite different this season. But that has Kelce looking forward to what’s in store with Patrick Mahomes and coach Andy Reid.
“I want to be out there every chance I get to help this team win,” Kelce said. “Feel like I’ve had to evolve week in week out, year in, year out. That’s just the mentality that I have, to try to find a new way Coach Reid can utilize me. That’s kind of been what I’ve been most proud of, being able to move in the backfield, out wide, obviously in the traditional tight end situations.
“And this offense has evolved into everybody being everywhere and attacking you with different routes. And you know what? That’s why I love being here because you get that opportunity to always get the defense to second guess exactly what you’re doing.”
Kelce and several other players got a jumpstart on the new-look offense early in the offseason when they joined Mahomes in Texas for a few weeks for a series of workouts. That work has shown at OTAs.
“It helps get guys rolling a little earlier, it helped us get acclimated as teammates,” Kelce said of some of the new arrivals. “The chemistry was already there, great guys coming into the building. And from there it’s just figuring out how Coach Reid wants to utilize us all.”
At age 32, Kelce is starting to get up there a bit in years, but he has no plans to slow down.
“I love it,” Kelce said. “I’ve always had a love for competition, getting better. The work ethic that I’ve got from my family and my brother (Eagles center Jason Kelce), I saw how professional he was when he was in college and the type of attention to detail he had. And when you do those things you start to lead your life in the right way. It’s a steady incline of getting better at whatever craft you chose. And I chose football and I feel that year in and year out and I just love it.
“The biggest thing is recovery and making sure the body is at its peak at all times. The one thing that I’ve asked tight ends or the guys before me — even my brother who is two years older than me — is trying to find ways to recover and get the body back to 100 percent day in day out, week in week out. And you just focus on certain things throughout your career that work for you and I think I’ve found a groove that’s worked pretty good.”