Travis & Jason Kelce’s ‘New Heights’ podcast: Travis reacts to Hollywood Brown signing

Spoiler alert: he’s excited.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and his older brother — Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce — host a weekly podcast called “New Heights.” The title is an homage to the neighborhood in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, where they grew up.

Aside from talking about the Hollywood Brown acquisition, the brothers discuss defensive lineman Aaron Donald’s retirement from football — and which animal they would choose to swap legs with. Later in the episode, Jason brings back two former Eagles teammates, Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata, to talk about football and offensive linemen stuff.

“New Heights” with Jason & Travis Kelce | Jukes Original Presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment | You can also listen to the show on Spotify.

1. Maybe, $11 million for Hollywood Brown

The Chiefs recently signed a one-year deal with free agent wide receiver Hollywood Brown. The contract includes incentives that could bring the total value of the contract to $11 million. However, since Brown missed extended time with injuries in 2023 that suppressed his statistics, $2.8 million of the $11 million will be classified as NLTBE (Not Likely to Be Earned), which brings his salary cap number down to somewhere in the range of $8.2 million.

Arrowhead Pride executive editor John Dixon broke down the details in a piece he wrote earlier this week.

The deal begins with a $3 million signing bonus. Brown’s base salary is $3.5 million, which brings the starting cap figure to $6.5 million. Brown’s $250,000 workout bonus will also count against the cap.

Then Brown can earn bonuses for his playing time — that is, his percentage of offensive snap counts. He was on the field for 69% of the Arizona Cardinals’ plays in 2023, so $750,000 of a potential $1.5 million incentive is classified as likely-to-be-earned (LTBE) and will be charged against the 2024 cap.

Another incentive of up to $1.5 million is based on his receiving yardage. With 574 yards for Arizona last season, only the lowest threshold ($500,000 for 500 yards) will be LTBE in 2024.

Then Brown is slated to receive a total of $250,000 in per-game roster bonuses. In a 17-game season, these will amount to $14,706 for each game. Since Brown appeared in 14 2023 games, about $206,000 (14 times $14,706) of these per-game bonuses will be LTBE.

Finally, Brown can earn a $500,000 bonus if he scores five touchdowns — plus another $250,000 for both the sixth and seventh touchdowns. But since he only scored four in Arizona last season, these are NLTBE incentives that will only count in 2025.

All of that adds up to an $8.2 million cap hit for the coming season.

Discussing the language of up to $11 million led to a point of dispute between Jason and Travis. Jason said that he was annoyed with the fake money and posturing by teams and agents that inflated the perceived number of the contract for the sake of the optics of the situation.

Travis disagreed and countered that football isn’t the only profession with performance-based incentives.

“It’s every contract in any world. Everybody has incentives. Everybody has stuff in their line of work that they might have to meet.”

Jason held firm in his stance though on the matter, even commenting that his contracts were reported as worth more than the guaranteed dollars actually were.

Being the great teammate and cheerleader he is, Travis was confident Brown would hit every one of his incentives.

“Hollywood is going to get 11 mil because he’s worth every penny, and he’s about to go crazy this year.”

I think Brown will have trouble meeting all of his incentives. Regardless, it’s a win-win situation for Kansas City.

Either they save money against the cap, or they pay a guy for having an excellent season at a position that needs it.

2. Pumped to get to work!

Travis said that he is excited to play with Brown because his ability to stretch the field adds a different element to the offense.

“I’m pumped about this one, man,” explained Travis. The guy can absolutely fly.”

He went on to say that he reached out to guys who played with Brown while he was at Oklahoma University and that everyone he talked to spoke highly of the wide receiver.

“[I] talked to my guys — my Oklahoma Sooners — about what type of guy he is, and everybody just raves about the person he is in the building.”

3. Big Red is out recruiting

As it turns out, Brown didn’t find his way to the Chiefs on his own. Head coach Andy Reid was hot on the recruiting trail, texting Brown, persuading him to come to Kansas City.

After he signed with Kansas City, Brown posted a text message he received from Reid to his Instagram account.

“Hollywood, think Red today, KC Red with diamonds!!!” read the message.

Needless to say, Travis approves of his coach’s tactics to get more talent in the building.

“One of the best things was coach Reid’s text,” smiled Travis.