Travis Kelce speaks on desire to get paid more, marijuana in football
Travis Kelce knows he's gotta fight for his right to party, but he's not as certain how much he wants to fight for a larger paycheck.
In a recent feature by Vanity Fair, the Kansas City Chiefs superstar admits that, at a base salary of $11.25 million, he does feel underpaid. Last season, Kelce had the highest number of receptions (110) and second-highest receiving yards (1,338) of his career and was second in the league with a career-high 12 touchdowns.
“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 said.
He's not the highest-paid tight end in the league. George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers owns the title after he signed a five-year, $75 million extension in 2020.
Kelce said he plans on staying with Patrick Mahomes and Co. through the end of his current contract, which expires in 2025 after he signed a four-year, $57.25 million extension the same year Kittle inked his deal. Last offseason, the Chiefs dealt wide receiver Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins, who gave him a four year, $120 million contract extension.
“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,” Kelce, who led the Chiefs to their second Super Bowl title in four years, said. “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.
“... I don’t know if I really pressed the gas if I would get what I’m quote-unquote worth. But I know I enjoy coming to that building every single day.”
Travis Kelce reflects on marijuana suspension in college, comments on current NFL policy
Elsewhere in the feature, he looked back on his turbulent college career, which included a year-long suspension for testing positive for marijuana. Ahead of the 2010 Sugar Bowl when his Cincinnati Bearcats were set to face the Florida Gators, the kid from Ohio was taking in the sights and sounds of the city.
“I was down in New Orleans, listening to Lil Wayne, and I wanted to smoke what he was smoking,” Kelce said.
Upon hearing the news of his punishment, Kelce said he was "so embarrassed, I didn’t want to look at anybody."
His father, Ed, hoped Kelce took it as a learning lesson.
“I told him it’s a great learning opportunity. Live with it. Grow from it. Learn from it. It is what it is, and you just have to deal with it now,” he said. “All the while, I’m biting my tongue about how stupid it is that they’re going to suspend a college kid for smoking pot."
Kelce has not tested positive for marijuana, which is increasingly being legalized across the country, since entering the NFL in 2013. In his monologue while hosting "Saturday Night Live" in March he was able to poke fun of himself for the misstep.
The NFL adjusted its drug testing policy in 2021 and only tests for THC, the substance in marijuana that creates a high, between the start of training camp and the first preseason game.
"If you just stop in the middle of July, you’re fine,” Kelce said. “A lot of guys stop a week before and they still pass because everybody’s working out in the heat and sweating their tail off. Nobody’s really getting hit for it anymore.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Travis Kelce speaks on desire to get paid more, marijuana in football
