The Kansas City Chiefs re-signed star tight end Travis Kelce to a one-year, $12 million deal in what is potentially his final NFL season.
After months of speculation, Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce will return to play another season in the National Football League.
At 36-years-old, Kelce was unsure about his future in the NFL after the Chiefs had a disappointing 6-11 season and missed the playoffs in 2025, but Kansas City re-signed the future Hall of Famer to a one-year, $12 million contract.
His production has taken a hit over the past few seasons, as he has failed to reach 1,000 receiving yards for the third consecutive year despite playing all 17 games.
Kelce hauled in 76 of 108 passes for 851 yards and five touchdowns in his 13th NFL season, which isn’t bad by any means – he finished with the third-most yards by a tight end last season – but he produced seven straight 1,000-yard seasons from 2016 to 2022 en route to four first-team All-Pro and three second-team All-Pro selections.
Kelce has shown signs of slowing down, but he is still a threat to opposing defenses and with star quarterback Patrick Mahomes poised to lead his team back to the promise land after tearing two ligaments in his left knee near the end of the season, Kelce will be important to Kansas City’s offense in what is likely his final year in the NFL.
“He is in the discussion for greatest tight end of all time, but he is not that player anymore,” ESPN’s Seth Walder wrote Wednesday. “He's more lumbering and doesn't get open quite as easily. But even if he's not the same receiving threat he once was, he can still be a useful part of the Chiefs' offense.”
Despite the decline in receiving yards over the past three campaigns, he has been selected to the Pro Bowl in each of the last 11 seasons to go along with his seven All-Pro selections. Because he is still effective and will be making less than New York Giants TE Isaiah Likely ($13.33 million per season), Walder gave the Kelce deal a B grade.
“And while Likely is more than a decade younger, he also has never even come close to producing at the level Kelce did last season, let alone at his peak,” Walder explained.
This contract doesn’t break the bank for the Chiefs, especially after making salary cap space by reconstructing and cutting contracts, so this isn’t a bad deal by any means.
Walder believes that the Chiefs could potentially limit Kelce’s reps throughout the regular season so that he is fresh for the postseason, although that obviously isn’t guaranteed. Regardless of how Kansas City handles Kelce’s touches and playing time this season, he will go down as one of the best tight ends to ever step onto the field.
The three-time Super Bowl champion has 1,080 receptions, 13,002 yards and 82 touchdowns across 192 regular season games as well as 155 receptions, 1,784 yards and 20 touchdowns in 21 playoff games.