Travis Kelce gets surprise understudy as Chiefs give major hint at tight end succession plan with stunning trade for Cowboys star

The Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end room just got a little bigger.

Ahead of the 53-man roster cut deadline on Tuesday, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported the Chiefs are finalising a trade to acquire Peyton Hendershot from the Dallas Cowboys.

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In return, the reigning back-to-back Super Bowl champions will send a 2026 conditional seventh-round pick to Dallas in exchange for the tight end.

Hendershot entered the league in 2022 as an undrafted free agent.

He has appeared in 25 games over the last two seasons with three starts. The 25-year-old caught 11 passes for 103 yards with two touchdowns in 2022 along with four receptions for 38 yards last season.

He has also featured heavily on special teams, being on the field for 62 percent of the unit’s snaps in 2022 for Dallas.

Hendershot will now get to learn the ropes from Tight End University founder and one of the all-time greats at the position, Travis Kelce.

“Here why I like this: Kansas City needs to start looking at replacements for its older players,” one fan posted.

“Damn.. that chiefs TE room got even better..,” added another.

Arrowhead live, a popular Chiefs fan account on X, wrote: “My guess is the Hendershot trade is almost purely a special teams move. He’s got a little juice as a pass catcher as well.”

Kelce is a nine-time Pro Bowler and a seven-time All-Pro, with four first-team and three second-team selections.

The three-time Super Bowl champ holds numerous NFL records, including most consecutive and most overall seasons (seven) with 1,000 receiving yards by a tight end.

He’s also only the fifth TE to hit 10,000 career receiving yards, reaching the milestone faster than any tight end in NFL history.

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Last season, he and teammate Patrick Mahomes set the record for most touchdowns for a duo in NFL history with 16, passing Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski en route to their third Lombardi Trophy together.

However, at 34, Kelce can’t go on forever.

He received a raise this offseason and remains signed through 2025, but beyond that it’s unclear what he intends to do.

His high profile relationship with pop megastar Taylor Swift has seen his celebrity status skyrocket, while his award-winning podcast with brother Jason was just signed to a three-year deal worth $100m.

It was also recently announced that the younger Kelce would be starring in Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore 2, another indication that the inevitable Pro Football Hall of Famer sees his future somewhere in the entertainment world.

Hendershot will have to learn the tight end ropes quickly, and his signing could be the first real indication that the Chiefs are starting to think about life after Kelce.

Travis has remained coy about his inevitable retirement, insisting that for now he’s as focused as ever on winning.

“I can’t put a specific timeframe on it,” Kelce told the media earlier this year.

“I enjoy coming to work every single day. Of course, I recognize there are opportunities beyond football for me. But when I’m here, I feel like a kid again.”

“I’m going to keep playing until the wheels fall off. Hopefully, that’s not anytime soon,” he said. “It’s clear that I’m closer to the end of my career than the beginning. I need to ensure I’m prepared for life after football as well.”

Hendershot is the latest addition to the Chiefs’ tight end group.

They selected TCU’s Jared Wiley in Round 4 of the 2024 NFL Draft, but did not retain Jody Fortson this offseason and released veteran Irv Smith Jr on Tuesday.

Backup Noah Gray remains with the team and is now in a contract year.