The truth is in the details with regard to Travis Kelce’s contract, and NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport appears to have left out some noteworthy particulars about what he said was a three-year deal.
Kelce signed what amounts to a one-year $12 million deal with the Chiefs, which also includes two additional dummy years to spread his dead cap hit out should retire before the deal’s conclusion.
Those details were omitted when Rapoport initially reported it as a three-year, $54.7 million deal, and Fox Sports’ Nick Wright called Rapoport’s reporting “wildly misleading.”
“I’ve had dinner with this guy [Rapoport]. I share an agent with this guy. I have nothing against him personally. Much the opposite,” Wright, a die-hard Chiefs fan, said on “What’s Wright” podcast.
“But Ian Rapoport’s tweet about Travis Kelce’s contract … this is now the second time in a couple weeks that Rapoport has, via his very popular and followed Twitter account, blatantly misinformed the public.”
Rapoport, who has 5.1 million followers on X, called it a three-year deal in the $55 million range that can max at $57.7 million, while shouting out Kelce’s agent — Mike Simon — who negotiated the deal.
He did not mention how it may just a one-year, $12 million deal.
“There is absolutely no shot, even if Travis decides, ‘I want to keep playing,’ that he is going to get a $40 million balloon payment in early March,” Wright explained. “Everyone knows that, which is why, if your goal is to inform the public, report the actual information. The real actionable intel is Travis Kelce is on a de facto one-year, $12 million deal where he can make $3 million in incentives.”
Wright adds that while contracts in the NFL can be confusing enough, Rapoport shouldn’t be posting misleading information that he is fed from NFL agents in order to get future favors.
“It cannot be up to $57 million. It can’t be,” Wright said. “I’m not Edward R. Murrow, and I’m not even a journalist. But if you’re going to consider yourself a reporter and your job is to inform the public about news, then you cannot willingly put out intentionally wildly misleading information because you want the guy who runs Milk & Honey Sports to owe you a favor.”
The story was certainly murky when released by the NFL Network, as the news that Kelce signed a three-year contract turned heads considering the star tight end had been contemplating retirement.
Kelce, 36, was still productive last season, tallying 861 yards and five touchdowns with the Chiefs as he looks to add to his Hall of Fame resume while quarterback Patrick Mahomes rehabs from a torn ACL.
