The Kansas City Chiefs’ historic three-peat bid ended with a resounding disappointment. After 15 regular season wins and an impressive dismantling of the AFC gauntlet, Kansas City was hapless against the Philadelphia Eagles’ overwhelming defensive front. Patrick Mahomes took a career-high six sacks and turned it over thrice, including a Cooper DeJean pick-six that will live on in Super Bowl lore.

The final score, 40-22 in Philly’s favor, was not indicative of how thoroughly the Eagles blew out Kansas City. A few garbage-time scores softened the blow slightly for the Chiefs, but that team clearly needs to take a step back and revisit the drawing board. Kansas City is good, no doubt, but after a season of narrowly eking out one-score victories against inferior opponents, the Chiefs’ Super Bowl meltdown was a nice reminder of their mortality.

Brett Veach and the front office will have a lot of difficult decisions on their plate this summer. Any Mahomes team is a contender, so the Chiefs don’t need to panic, but the Eagles could force Kansas City to consider drastic measures. Might one of those measures include severing ties with Travis Kelce?

ESPN’s Aaron Schatz proposes exactly that in his latest column. He believes the Chiefs should consider cutting the 10-time Pro Bowl tight end in order to better manage an unwieldy cap sheet.

Chiefs cutting Travis Kelce might be logical, but it would enrage the fanbase

“This would be a very unpopular move, but Kelce’s contract is set up as an easy way for the Chiefs to gain cap space for 2025,” Schatz writes. “According to Roster Management System, cutting Kelce would cost the Chiefs only $2.5 million in dead money while saving them over $17 million on the salary cap. That’s important with the Chiefs currently having negative effective cap space (i.e., the cap space that they would have after signing at least 51 players and a projected rookie class).”

Look, the Chiefs need to find ways to free up cap space. There are several holes on the roster in urgent need of repair, but Veach needs to walk a delicate tightrope. He cannot risk tanking the Chiefs’ competitive odds, nor upsetting their top stars. Mahomes (and several others) have taken pay cut after pay cut to keep this core together. If the result of all that sacrifice is axing a future Hall of Famer and Mahomes’ favorite target … might that ruffle a few too many feathers?

Kelce has been the subject of retirement rumors ever since the final buzzer sounded on Feb. 9’s crushing defeat. That would be the easiest way out for the Chiefs — if Kelce voluntarily walks away and leaves all that money on the table. But, if the 35-year-old opts to run it back and Kansas City hands him a pink slip, it’s difficult to fathom the maelstrom of hurt feelings and vociferous rage that would follow — not only in the locker room, but around the fanbase.

This isn’t an exact match for the Dallas Mavericks trading prime 25-year-old Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, but the vibes are awfully close. Kelce is a franchise legend in Kansas City. He has been an essential contributor to three Super Bowl runs. To turn about and stab him in the back like this — even if there’s some financial logic from the front office’s perspective — would be difficult for those with an emotional investment in the team to stomach.

Kelce performed well below his usual standards last season, reeling in 97 receptions for 823 yards and three touchdowns. That is still better than all but a handful of tight ends in the NFL, though, and Kelce’s telepathic connection with Mahomes was once again on display in the playoffs (at least through the first couple rounds). The Chiefs would have a hard time recovering from this on the PR front.