Brett Veach praises Kansas City Chiefs ‘unicorn’ who looks six years younger than his real age

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Travis Kelce’s new contract with the Kansas City Chiefs has confirmed that he will certainly retire with the franchise.

At 34, the tight end has become the NFL’s highest-paid player in his position. The two-year contract extension is worth $34.25 million.

The move was made just after the Draft and at the start of OTA’s second phase.

As soon as the deal was announced, Brett Veach held a press conference to comment on the latest news.

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Kelce means so much to Kansas City

Contrary to the natural course of what usually happens after the Draft, i.e. rookies’ contracts, the timing of Kelce’s news came as a surprise for the media.

The general manager congratulated the TE on behalf of the entire organization and expressed a lot of affection when talking about the player.

“[It is] hard to put into words what Travis means to this organization in this city, and he was certainly a priority to justice contract for us, and it was important for Clark [Hunt]. It is very fitting that Travis is now the highest-paid tight end. Again, [it is] just a really special day and moment for this organization to once again recognize arguably one of the greatest tight ends ever to do it.”

An excerpt of Veach’s speech was posted on the Chiefs’ official Instagram and Mr. Swift left his comment: “Love this place! And it’s because of the people in this organization and this city!!!

Kelce is getting older, but he doesn’t look like it

Travis Kelce is different. Despite his age, which usually proves to be a hindrance for most TEs, he continues to play at a very high level.

In 2024, the season that has the potential to be historic for KC, Kelce will turn 35. That says a lot about the legacy he’s leaving the game.

Veach acknowledges that the player is off the charts and that the franchise values him greatly: “Every now and then, you have one of these guys that are outliers – and certainly Travis is one of those players,” said.

“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.”

Few tight ends in history have managed to perform as well as he does after getting deep into their 30s.

Tony Gonzalez played in the NFL until he was 37, and had the best results among TEs that were in the final stretch of their careers. He had three seasons of over 800 yards at the age of 35 – one of them at 36, in 2012, when he reached 930 yards.

“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,” the GM recognised.

2023 was not Kelce’s best season. In the regular season, he didn’t reach 1,000 receiving yards, but he came close. He really stood out in the postseason and during the Super Bowl.

“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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