It’s officially official: Travis Kelce has inked a new contract with the Kansas City Chiefs.The legendary tight end quashed any retirement speculation earlier this month, and announced his ambition to return to Arrowhead on March 9.Kelce has signed an extension with the Chiefs and will return in 2026GettyWeeks on, and he has now agreed a three-year, $54.7 million extension with the Chiefs.“Chiefs Kingdom, let’s go baby! It’s official, excited for 2026 and just excited to put on the Chiefs uniform in front of you guys again,” Kelce said in an Instagram post, which featured pictures of him signing his new contract in Kansas City.“Let’s get Arrowhead rockin’ baby, we’ll see you in a few months!”While Kelce took plenty of time to mull over retirement for a second consecutive offseason, it’s clear he still has plenty left in the tank.And that will delight Chiefs quarterback and close friend, Patrick Mahomes.The duo have forged one of the most dynamic QB-TE partnerships in NFL history, which helped propel Kansas City to Super Bowl glory on three occasions.Patrick Mahomes sends message to Travis Kelce over new Chiefs contractMahomes, who is working to return from a serious knee injury, was one of the first to react to Kelce’s new deal.He FaceTimed his close friend in a team-produced video, offering a simple message.“Congrats, man,” Mahomes said, as Kelce grinned at his phone.“Home sweet home, with the beard too.Mahomes sent Kelce congratulations after the tight end signed his new dealAFP“I just wanted to call to say congratulations. I know you’ve got stuff going on.”Kelce concluded the call by wishing Mahomes well in his recovery from a torn ACL and LCL, adding: “What a guy, man.”While the tight end’s return comes as little surprise to fans, the terms of his deal have caused quite a stir.Given all the retirement talk around Kelce, it’s highly unlikely that he will play for the full three years — but a longer deal has helped the Chiefs find a salary cap loophole.Travis Kelce’s new contract a stroke of genius from Kansas CityNFL insider Ari Meirov has reported that Kelce’s extension includes a trigger date next June that ‘exists strictly for cap purposes.’“He does not actually have another two years and $40m+ coming to him after this season,” Meirov wrote. View this post on Instagram In reality, the agreement is structured as a one-year, $12m deal with another $3m in incentives. The additional years are included for cap purposes, and should Kelce want to play on in 2027, it will be renegotiated.“As currently structured, it’s set up for this to be his final season, after which he would retire — allowing the cap hits to be spread out over those added years,” Meirov added.Sports Illustrated further broke down the numbers earlier this month.“The contract is broken up this way to manage the cap hits, exploiting the 50% rule and a post-June 1 mechanism to spread them out over three years,” a piece from Mike Kadlick and Albert Breer explained.Kelce’s new Chiefs deal helps the team circumnavigate the salary capGetty“Kelce, as such, has a $4,896,667 hit for 2026, and dead-money hits of $3,551,667 for 2027 and 2028.“The Chiefs have a long-standing policy of not doing void years, and the above two rules allow them to sidestep that (using a tactic the Eagles have over the years).“Kelce has minimum salaries built into dummy years in 2027 and 2028, with a $40m guarantee for 2028 vesting June 8 of next year –which will force the Chiefs to release him by then, and allow for them to spread the dead money out, since the date falls after June 1.”The contract, essentially, ensures No. 87 gets paid for this season without leaving the Chiefs in a financial hole. It also paves the way for a retirement tour.NFL's Greatest......Ranking the top 10......Quarterbacks of all-time – Can anyone better Tom Brady?Wide receivers of all-time – Does Randy Moss or Jerry Rice come out on top?Running backs of all-time – Stacking Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith and moreTight ends of all-time – How does Travis Kelce compare?If Kelce does hang it up after his 14th season, the Chiefs would quietly release him after June 1. But if he wants to return, the team would have to renegotiate long before then.Stay up to date with the latest from the NFL across all platforms – follow our dedicated talkSPORT USA Facebook page and subscribe to our talkSPORT USA YouTube channel for all the news, exclusives, interviews and more.