With the Super Bowl in the record books, all 32 teams are officially in offseason mode. As such, the Kansas City Chiefs need to start pulling strings and making moves to have enough cap space to add more firepower to their roster.
Of course, that also includes bringing back the greatest tight end in franchise history. There have been rumors regarding Travis Kelce's future with the team, so it's probably time to get things straight.
If Kelce intends to return, which, by all means, looks to be the most likely outcome, he should be at the top of the team's list of priorities for the offseason. Once that's out of the way, they can focus on getting things done with everybody else.
The Chiefs Need to Get Some Clarity About Travis Kelce
Kelce is mulling retirement, but he said he would let the Chiefs know his decision, one way or another, in enough time to plan for his return or absence. Not to rush Kelce, but that means he should reach out to the front office pretty soon.
A couple of weeks ago, the future Hall of Famer addressed Eric Bieniemy's return, saying he was looking forward to watching him in the building. That doesn't sound like someone who's going to walk away from the game. Now, it's all about making it official.
Kelce has a market value of $10 million, according to Spotrac. That bodes perfectly with what the Chiefs can afford to pay right now. In fact, they could probably try to convince him to take a pay cut, given their complex salary cap situation and the fact that Kelce has already earned over $101 million in his career, on top of being engaged to Taylor Swift, who isn't hurting for money herself.
According to Over The Cap, the Chiefs are $54 million over the salary cap, the worst mark in the entire league. Then again, they can clear $44 million by restructuring Patrick Mahomes' deal, with other veterans, like Chris Jones and Trey Smith, also lending a hand. They can also clear $20 million by cutting the ever-struggling Jawaan Taylor.
Kelce isn't coming off his best season, but even a down year for him would be a career year for most pass-catching tight ends. And even if the Chiefs could put that money to better use by addressing other areas of need, there's simply no way they won't go the extra mile to bring Kelce back for one last run at a Super Bowl after everything he's done for the organization during his career.