The Chiefs had nothing to win in Week 18, so they rested several of their key players, including Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.
The tight end was expected to play to reach the 16 yards he needed to reach 1,000 yards this season.
Instead, Kelce was inactive.
Coach Andy Reid announced Tuesday that the team has let Kelce decide whether or not to continue his streak of 1,000-yard seasons.
“He’s a humble, unassuming guy,” Reid said, via Ed Easton of USA Today. “With Chris it’s different because of the financial part [Jones]. [Kelce] didn't want to be selfish or appear selfish. All the players want him to play, but he just says, “You know what? I don't like the way it feels.' He's not into it. He chose not to play and I completely understand that. But he is. Most guys probably would have gone out and done it, but he said, “I’ve got a lot of records on this one; I'm not going to do it like that.'”
Kelce finished the regular season with 984 yards receiving, the first time he had fewer than 1,000 receiving yards since 2015.
Mahomes praised his teammate for his selflessness during the quarterback's weekly appearance on 610 Sports Radio.
“That speaks to the type of teammate he is,” Mahomes said. “Honestly, I tried to force him to play, like I tried to let him go out, because I knew he would try not to play and wanted it to be about the team and not about him . I tried to push him up until game time and then he said, ‘No, I’m not.’ I don’t want to play for those reasons. “I want to get healthy and fit for the playoffs.”
“A lot of guys would have done that and gone out there and done it and there is no offense towards them. But the guy teammate Travis is, he couldn't do that because he knew it wasn't about him; It was about the team.”
Defensive lineman Chris Jones played 46 snaps to get one sack, giving him 10.5 on the season and a $1.25 million incentive in his contract. However, Kelce had no financial incentive.