KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As many athletes opt to sign with teams that offer higher-earning contracts, Travis Kelce told Vanity Fair magazine he isn't too worried about being underpaid with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Kelce gave Vanity Fair an exclusive for the magazine’s July/August issue. He talked about a variety of topics in the feature piece, including his contract situation, which runs until the end of the 2025 season.
Under his current contract, Kelce is the third highest-paid tight end in the NFL.
"You see how much more money you could be making and, yeah, it hits you in the gut a little bit. It makes you think you’re being taken advantage of,” Kelce told Kludt. “I don’t know if I really pressed the gas if I would get what I’m quote-unquote worth, but I know I enjoy coming to that building every single day.”
Kelce said that people around him have tried to make him press the Chiefs for more money.
“My managers and agents love to tell me how underpaid I am,” Kelce said in the Vanity Fair piece. “Any time I talk about wanting more money, they’re just like, ‘Why don’t you go to the Chiefs and ask them?’”
Kelce said when former teammate Tyreek Hill signed his four-year, $120 million contract with the Miami Dolphins after getting traded, it made make him think about his contract a bit.
“When I saw Tyreek go and get 30 (million) a year, in the back of my head, I was like, man, that’s two to three times what I’m making right now,” he said. “I’m like, the free market looks like fun until you go somewhere and you don’t win. I love winning. I love the situation I’m in.”
Kelce also talked about his career outside of pro football, while opportunities with pro wrestling and future acting appearances are potentially looming for him. He said a future in broadcasting intrigues him more than anything else at the moment.
"I could sit there, talk football, and make it relatable. I could get into the scheme of things. I could make it make sense to the people who are just now getting into it,” Kelce said in Vanity Fair. “And I could bring the juice.”
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