The Kansas City Chiefs rewarded one of their veteran leaders with a pay raise last week.
Travis Kelce received an advance on his pay by way of a restructured contract last week. Essentially, he’ll earn more of the money in his contract a bit sooner than originally intended. The team rewarded Kelce as he has been the consummate professional throughout his career.
“It’s just another reason why I love being here, man,” Kelce told reporters on Monday. “I’ve done everything I can to do things the right way on the field and in the community. And I’m going to continue to do that. They know that and they know what type of player they’re going to get with me. What type of leader they’re going to get in this building and also in the community.”
During the course of the offseason, Kelce has attended all of the team’s voluntary workouts, in part to show some of the new players on the team how to work and be a professional in the NFL. That didn’t go unnoticed by the team. They also noticed the talk about how underpaid Kelce is commensurate to his production, with six consecutive seasons of over 1,000 yards receiving. When they had the opportunity to, they acted swiftly to do right by their star player.
“I’m just extremely appreciative of it,” Kelce said. “That they would even think about it and try to put something together. It’s just another reason why I go out here and play my tail off for this city and this organization.”
Kelce didn’t ask for a raise, nor did he even publicly show that he wanted it. He even came out and said that his legacy was more important to him than money at this point.
Not that the team or fans needed any reassurances, but Kelce told reporters on Monday that he fully intends to play his entire career in Kansas City. He remains under contract through the 2025 NFL season, when he’ll be 36 years old.
“I don’t plan on playing anywhere else, brother,” Kelce said. “I hope the Chiefs have that in mind too.”
I would wager that the Chiefs have that in mind too.
