Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs, George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
The Kansas City Chiefs must extend Travis Kelce before George Kittle.
It’s time for a Travis Kelce contract extension in Kansas City, please.
Even though the Kansas City Chiefs need to pay defensive tackle Chris Jones in a matter of weeks and starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes within the next year or so, they also need to add another Kelce extension on the list of things to do. How is Chiefs general manager Brett Veach going to pull another blockbuster deal off this quickly, and why does he have to do it in the first place?
Two words: George Kittle.
Kelce might be entering year four of a five-year deal worth $46,842,000, but what the San Francisco 49ers‘ star tight end is slated to make on his new deal will blow the tight end market out of the water. Not only will it shatter the $10.5 million Austin Hooper is now making annually with the Cleveland Browns, but it could approach $15 or $16 million in the blink of an eye.
If the Kansas City Chiefs don’t extend Travis Kelce, they’ll regret it.
So where does this leave Kelce and his camp? The 30-year-old tight end has one last bite at the apple before his skill set inevitably decays. Kelce is under contract through his age-31 season and won’t hit unrestricted free agency until 2022. If the Chiefs were wise, they’d put in place a deal that pays him around $12 million annually that goes into effect starting in 2021.
This is a way for the Chiefs to skip in line ahead of Kittle and pay Kelce what he’s worth: top money. While Kelce isn’t anything close to the blocking presence of Kittle, waiting to pay him will only make his impending extension all the more problematic for the cap. The Chiefs would have to pay an older tight end millions for a guy who will likely be declining.
If the Chiefs don’t put an extension in place for Kelce soon, it might end up costing the Chiefs dearly. Kittle is in his contract year, as the former fifth-round pick out of Iowa hasn’t had a big pay day yet. He’s getting it. Whether that’s with the 49ers or with someone else remains to be seen.
If the Chiefs aren’t comfortable with paying Kelce over $16 million annually once he’s firmly in his 30s, they just might let him walk in his free agency in 2022. He might be the best receiving tight end in football, but we don’t know how that dynamic will change in two years.
Did you think Kittle was a top-three tight end in football two years ago? Point made.
So what Veach should do is let Kelce skip Mahomes in line to get paid, right after Jones gets his new deal. That way, all three can remain Chiefs for the foreseeable future. It’s not like Mahomes will be playing anywhere else soon. Kansas City will have to suck it up and pay him possibly well over $40 million by the time it’s his turn to get a second contract.
If Kittle gets paid before Kelce gets extended again, the Chiefs are completely screwed.