KC Chiefs' Travis Kelce Opens up to Vanity Fair About Being Underpaid

The Chiefs' superstar tight end discussed getting what he's worth in relation to his peers in an exclusive interview.

Feb 6, 2023; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce speaks to the media during the NFL s Super Bowl opening night at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Rondone-Arizona Republic Nfl Super Bowl Opening Night At Footprint Center

The Kansas City Chiefs may not have a No. 1 pure wide receiver on the roster ahead of the 2023 NFL season, but they've had a de facto one on the team for a decade now. Tight end Travis Kelce has emerged as the best player at his position, with his stats also rivaling some of the best pass-catchers in the entire league over the past several years.

Due to the nature of his position, though, Kelce hasn't been compensated as a top-shelf receiver. In fact, he isn't even first or second on the highest-paid tight ends list when it comes to average annual value. The 33-year-old's all-world production has come with a very affordable price tag for Kansas City, and Kelce knows it. 

In an extensive and exclusive interview with Vanity Fair's Tom Kludt, Kelce admitted that some within his inner working circle still remind him that he's significantly underpaid relative to what he does on the field:

Obviously, no one should weep for Kelce, who’s earned nearly $65 million in his playing career. He isn’t crying poor either, but he admits that his associates bristle over his salary. “My managers and agents love to tell me how underpaid I am,” Kelce says. “Any time I talk about wanting more money, they’re just like, ‘Why don’t you go to the Chiefs and ask them?’”

The Chiefs, constrained by the NFL’s salary cap, have parted with other key players who have gone on to make more money elsewhere. Last year, the team traded All-Pro wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who played in Kansas City for six seasons and won a Super Bowl with Kelce in 2020, to the Miami Dolphins, who promptly handed Hill a four-year contract extension worth $120 million.

The mention of Hill's departure to the Miami Dolphins via trade is an apt one, as the Chiefs didn't meet the salary demands he ultimately got in a state without an income tax. Not paying Hill a hefty contract allowed the team to reset its books a bit ahead of the 2022 season, which included a small raise for Kelce in the short term. With that said, his adjusted figures still didn't even come close to matching Hill's. Instead of bringing it to the Chiefs, Kelce thinks the trade-off of being a winner is worth it:

“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 says. “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.”

But it does cross his mind. “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 says. “I don’t know if I really pressed the gas if I would get what I’m quote-unquote worth,” he adds. “But I know I enjoy coming to that building every single day.”

Kelce's willingness to take less in order to maintain quality talent around him on both sides of the ball is well-documented, as he said just last summer that money is "almost secondary" to him at this stage of his career. He's made a decent chunk less than his maximum earning potential over the course of his football career but, as the interviewer notes, there should be no shortage of post-NFL opportunities for him in the entertainment business. That, combined with year-over-year success in Kansas City, makes being underpaid a much easier pill to swallow for the best tight end in the league.

Read More: Brandon Graham Fires off Take About Patrick Mahomes Injury in Super Bowl LVII