Kelce Now Ranks Shockingly Low Among NFL’s Highest-Paid TEs

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Travis Kelce gave a shoutout to the KC Swifties, a local girls flag football team formed thanks to Taylor Swift. Then, he discussed an interesting hypothetical involving Family Feud and Andy Reid.

This week’s edition of New Heights didn’t contain a lot of NFL discussion. That's no surprise because the 30 days before the draft typically represents a quieter time in the league.

Came a long way from Hoopsie, @tkelce 🤣 pic.twitter.com/tdrYkfww6N
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) March 24, 2026

Understanding Kelce's new deal

Kelce made plenty of noise on Monday, though, and it wasn’t due to his hard-on-the-eyes USMNT World Cup kit. It was because he signed one of the more ingenious contracts in recent league memory. The deal pays Kelce a minimum of $12 million in 2026 with $3 million in incentives. The Chiefs then back-loaded the rest of the deal to manipulate the salary-cap hits, scheduling a huge bonus for post-June 1 in 2027.

Some, however, took issue not with the signing but the reporting of the contract. Nick Wright accused Ian Rapoport of simply relaying the black-and-white print and big dollar signs, without providing between-lines context.

“I’ve had dinner with this guy,” said Wright on Tuesday’s edition of the What’s Wright? podcast. “I share an agent with this guy. I have nothing against him personally. Much the opposite.

“But Ian Rapoport’s tweet about Travis Kelce’s contract – this is now the second time in a couple weeks that Rapoport has, via his very popular-and-followed Twitter account, blatantly misinformed the public.”

#Chiefs Pro Bowl TE Travis Kelce has signed his contract, officially locking him in for 2026.

It’s a 3-year, $54.735M deal that can be worth up to $57.735M ($18.245M average) done by agent Mike Simon (@mikevmgsports) of @milkhoneysport. Year 1 is $12M plus 3M in incentives. pic.twitter.com/2iYvstuMrC
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 23, 2026

Among highest-paid tight ends

Something that’s also interesting is where the contract puts Kelce among his 2026 peers. Kelce and Jerry Rice are the league’s only players ever to record 800 receiving yards in 12 consecutive seasons. Kelce ranks No. 1 on the NFL’s all-time postseason receptions list with 178. But one would never know that simply by looking at how teams will compensate tight ends this year.

Spotrac opted to value Kelce’s contract essentially for what it is – a one-year deal that will pay him $12 million. That figure isn’t even in the top 10 among tight ends in average annual value.

George Kittle ($19.1 million), Trey McBride ($19 million), T.J. Hockenson ($16.5 million), Kyle Pitts ($15.045 million), Isaiah Likely ($13.33 million), Mark Andrews ($13.089 million), Dalton Schultz ($12.6 million), Jake Ferguson and Cole Kmet (both $12.5 million) and Pat Freiermuth ($12.1 million) all are scheduled to make more than Kelce in 2026.

Age is obviously a factor in Kelce’s new contract; he’ll turn 37 in October. And obviously his longevity has helped him far surpass all of those more highly paid tight ends in most career receiving numbers.

But consider this: During his Age 36 season in 2025, Kelce started all 17 games and posted a 61.1-percent success rate, third among that group of highly paid tight ends behind only Kittle (68.1 percent, in 11 games) and McBride (61.5 percent in 17 games.

Pro Football Reference defines success rate as targets on which the player gained at least 40 percent of required yards on first down, 60 percent on second down and 100 percent on third or fourth downs.

The future Hall of Famer was the league’s highest-paid tight end when he last signed a contract, but his contract expired.