Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill discusses Travis Kelce’s Chiefs deal: what is a “friendly” contract?

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce isn’t short of cash, let’s be honest. He may not quite be Taylor Swift rich, but the NFL star isn’t doing too badly for himself.

What is Travis Kelce’s base salary with Kansas City?

According to Sportrac, a website specialising in finance in sport, the 34-year-old makes a cool $12 million per year…although former teammate Tyreek Hill, now of the Miami Dolphins, reckons he could get a much better contract elsewhere.

Speaking to the “Million Dollaz Worth of Game” podcast, Hill believes Kelce has proved he is the ultimate team player by turning down the prospect of more money to stick with the Chiefs over the years.

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Kelce and Mahomes “want to keep the Chiefs together”

“I think Kelce is like at 14-15 million. Nobody’s Travis Kelce. Nobody’s Patrick Mahomes, either. Those two - they’re just different”.

“They’re gonna be the highest-paid. But obviously, they’re gonna take friendly deals ‘cause you know... they want to keep the team together.”

And no wonder. The Chiefs have built something of a dynasty in the NFL in recent years, winning three of the last five Super Bowls, including the last two in a row. Mahomes was named MVP in both championship Games but nobody, not least Hill, doubts the crucial role Kelce played in his team’s triumphs.

Is Kelce NFL’s best ever tight end?

When asked whether Kelce was the greatest tight end ever to play the sport, Hill immediately responded: “Of all time? For sure,” although he did then back down slightly from that claim.

“The greatest tight end that I played with, I will say that. I don’t wanna say nothing else about nobody else’s career. But from what I’ve seen and how hard he works in practice, he’s definitely the greatest.”

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How does Kelce’s base salary compare to Mahomes, Chiefs teammates and other NFL stars?

Sportrac list Kelce as the Chiefs’ third highest-paid player in terms of base salary, behind Jawaan Taylor ($19.5 million) and Joe Thunk ($15.5 million).

Mahomes ($9.85 million) is only fifth but his contract includes huge signing, roster and restructuring bonuses, with a cap hit of over $37 million, by the far the highest on Kansas’ roster (Kelce’s is just under $15.5 million).

In the whole of the NFL, Kelce is only joint 65th when it comes to base salary, $31 million per year behind Deshaun Watson of the Cleveland Browns, who heads up the list.