Technically, tight end Travis Kelce has signed a new three-year deal with the Chiefs. And it’s a true three-year contract, without voidable years.
It’s structured to be a one-year deal, with what amounts to a placeholder provision for 2027.
Per a source with knowledge of the terms, the contract pays $12 million in 2026. The money comes in the form of a fully-guaranteed $3 million base salary, a $3 million fully-guaranteed reporting bonus earned on the fifth day of training camp, and a whopping $6 million in per-game roster bonuses — $352,941 for each of 17 regular-season games.
The per-game roster bonuses are fully-guaranteed, and they’ll be treated as earned if he’s on the 53-man roster (active on game days or not), on injured reserve, or on the physically unable to perform list. He’ll only not get the payments if he’s on the non-football illness/injury list.
For 2026, the contract includes incentives of up to $3 million. He gets up to $2 million if the Chiefs make the playoffs. For a postseason berth and 60 percent regular-season playing time, he gets an extra $750,000. At 70 percent regular-season playing time (also with a playoff berth), Kelce receives $1 million. At 80 percent regular-season playing time, and a playoff berth, the number maxes out at $2 million.
A Super Bowl berth and 60 percent regular-season playing time qualifies him for another $250,000. A Super Bowl berth and 70 percent regular-season playing time pushes the number to $1 million.
The contract has minimum salaries for 2027 and 2028, along with a $40 million roster bonus in 2028. The roster bonus becomes fully guaranteed as of June 8, 2027. This means that he’ll either be released or placed on the reserve/retired list before June 8 — unless the deal is restructured to modify or eliminate the roster bonus.
It essentially gives the Chiefs extended dibs on keeping Kelce in 2027, if he decides to play another year. And it gives both sides three extra months after the start of the league year to figure something out, while also keeping Kelce off the open market. (That term suggests that, yes, other teams had interest in his services for 2026.)
So, yes, it’s a three-year deal. However, unless the contract is renegotiated, the remaining two years will be torn up before June 8, 2027.
When tight end Travis Kelce agreed to return for the 2026 season earlier this month, word was that he would be signing a one-year deal worth up to $15 million with the Chiefs.
Kelce officially signed his new pact on Monday and the full details of the contract are a bit different than those initial reports. Ian Rapoport of NFL Media confirms that Kelce is set to make $12 million in 2026 with $3 million available in incentives and adds that it is a three-year deal worth up to $57.735 million in total.
Given Kelce’s annual deliberations on whether he’ll continue playing or not, the contract is likely structured to be revisited in the event the 2026 season is not Kelce’s final one in the NFL.
Kelce had 76 catches for 851 yards and five touchdowns for the Chiefs in 2025. The 2026 season will be his 14th with the AFC West club.
The Dolphins and Cardinals aren’t the only teams taking massive dead-money charges for quarterbacks no longer on the team.
The Jets are, too.
As noted by Rich Cimini of ESPN, the Jets will carry $48 million in 2026 for 2023-24 starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers and 2025 starting quarterback Justin Fields.
Overall, the Jets have $104 million in total dead money this year, third highest in the league.
The cap charge for Rodgers arises from his 2025 release, a post-June 1 designation that spread the dead money over two years. The Fields charge comes from the back end of his two-year contract signed in 2025, the recent trade that sent him to the Chiefs, and the fact that the Jets will pay $8 million of his $11 million in 2026 compensation.
The good news is that the Jets got quarterback Geno Smith for only $3.3 million this season. The better news is that, per Cimini, the Jets are expected to have more than $150 million in 2027 cap space.
Still, the Jets will be operating in 2026 with more than a third of the $301.2 million salary cap devoted to players who no longer play for the team.
If Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who tore an ACL last December, isn’t ready for the first week of the 2026 regular season, his new backup will make a very specific type of history.
As noted by Rich Cimini of ESPN, a Week 1 start by Justin Fields for Kansas City would make him the first player in NFL history to open the season as the starting quarterback for four different teams in four consecutive years.
In 2023, Fields started for the Bears. In 2024, Fields started for the Steelers (Russell Wilson was injured). In 2025, Fields started for the Jets.
He’s already one of seven quarterbacks since 1950 to make three straight Week 1 starts for three different teams.
And with the Jets due to play in Kansas City at some point in 2026, the schedule makers could set the stage for Fields to potentially start against his most recent team for the second straight season. Last year, Steelers-Jets in Week 1 gave Fields an immediate shot at his most recent former team.
The Chiefs have struck a deal to hold onto linebacker Jack Cochrane.
They announced that they have re-signed Cochrane on Friday. No terms of the new contract have been announced.
Cochrane joined the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2022. He has missed four regular season games since joining the team and has been a core special teams player throughout his time in Kansas City.
Cochrane has 62 tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery in his 64 regular season appearances. He has one tackle in seven postseason appearances, but missed the playoffs after the 2024 season while on injured reserve.
