Travis Kelce will turn 35 early next season, but that has not prevented the Kansas City Chiefs from handing him a lucrative new deal that makes him the best-paid tight end in the NFL.
His new two-year, $34.25million contract will run until the end of the three-time Super Bowl champion’s 13th NFL season, who is approaching the age where many of his contemporaries have traditionally seen their production dip.
But Chiefs general manager Brett Veach has no such fears that ‘outlier’ Kelce will be slowing down anytime soon.
"Every now and then, you have one of these guys that are outliers -- and certainly Travis is one of those players," Veach said in a press conference.
"It's funny, it's not even May yet and today we had a chance to get out there in phase two and guys were out there running around. Travis was the first guy in line, and he looked like he was 28 years old."
Kelce narrowly saw a seven-year streak of 1,000-plus yards receiving season end last year after missing two games through injury, but he saved his best performances for the team’s playoff run, grabbing 32 catches for 355 yards and three touchdowns in the postseason.
"Again, the odds of someone playing this far into their 30s is very low, but it does happen, and it happens with unicorns in the profession, and Travis is one of those," Veach continued. "We'll certainly celebrate this with him and hopefully we can ride this thing even longer. We'll just have to wait and see, but he's shown no signs of slowing down.
“Everyone notices the kind of postseason he had; he just found an extra gear. These special players are always able to find that extra gear and again if anybody can do it, Travis can."
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