Travis Kelce Reveals Why Chiefs Restructured His Contract
With the NFL's Nov. 1 trade deadline quickly approaching, teams around the league will begin ramping up their efforts to improve as the midpoint of the season arrives soon. For clubs like the Kansas City Chiefs, one key addition via trade or free agency could possibly be what pushes them over the top come playoff time.
Until Tuesday morning, however, Kansas City had just over $200,000 in salary cap space to operate with. That left the chances of a significant external addition rather slim, but the restructuring of tight end Travis Kelce's contract created $3.455M in cap room. General manager Brett Veach now has a bit of wiggle room to maneuver and on Wednesday, Kelce elaborated on the restructure with his brother Jason on their New Heights podcast and explained what it could mean for both him and the Chiefs.
"So, I'm not sure yet," Kelce said. "It's a start to a move, right? You're freeing up cap space to be able to do something, right? Unless they're just kindly giving me the money up front, which I genuinely appreciate either way. But yeah, my agent just hit me up and said that they want to free up some cap space so I was like, 'I get the money now? Alright, I'll do that.' And it frees up cap space for us to get better as a team? I'm in."
Despite boasting a 4-2 record through six weeks and giving the visiting Buffalo Bills all they could handle in Week 6, the Chiefs undoubtedly have some question marks. Their roster is far from perfect, with positions such as wide receiver, offensive tackle and defensive end being areas of minor-to-major concern. There's certainly some room for improvement if the Chiefs want to win a championship this season.
Merely a couple of weeks ago, hype began to build surrounding free agent wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. taking his talents to Kansas City. The three-time Pro Bowler caught on with the Los Angeles Rams last season and ended up playing a crucial role for the team en route to their Super Bowl LVI victory earlier this year, and he's ramping up his rehab from the torn ACL he suffered in that aforementioned final game of the 2022 campaign. Beckham has yet to make a decision and hasn't even been officially narrowed down to the Chiefs but when Kelce was asked about the Beckham-to-KC rumblings, he struck a hopeful tone.
"I want them to come true," Kelce said. "I have not heard anything in the locker room or anything around the facility, but I think that something is in the air for sure. And if it means OBJ... alright now."
It remains to be seen whether that "something is in the air" turns out to be the signing of Beckham, but Kelce appears optimistic about the Chiefs potentially making a move in the coming weeks. Regardless of the type (trade or free agent signing), having a few million dollars to work with can make a pretty big difference compared to operating right at the cap ceiling. If Kelce's recent comments are any indication, a transaction could be brewing in Kansas City.
