How Many NFL Players Use Marijuana? Travis Kelce Has a Guess.

In a wide-ranging piece with Vanity Fair — in which it was revealed in the first paragraph that he has a manager, not just an agent, because he already has life after football on the brain — Travis Kelce stated that he believes at least 50% of the players in the NFL use marijuana and that the total number may be as high as 80%.

Though the NFL used to suspend players for entire seasons for testing positive for marijuana — just ask Ricky Williams — the league has substantially loosened its pot policy over the past decade and changed its previous window of testing, which spanned from April to August, to the first two weeks of training camp. The new policy, which also eliminates mandatory suspensions solely for marijuana, means players are basically free to smoke weed during the offseason.

Kelce confirmed as much to Vanity Fair. “If you just stop in the middle of July, you’re fine,” he said. “A lot of guys stop a week before and they still pass because everybody’s working out in the heat and sweating their tail off. Nobody’s really getting hit for it anymore.”

(Was that a pun?)

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Either way, pot was not the only topic of discussion for Kelce, as he also talked about his current contract with the Chiefs. In the second year of a four-year pact that will end up paying him around $60 million, the 33-year-old believes he’s underpaid. (He may be right.)

“My managers and agents love to tell me how underpaid I am,” the two-time Super Bowl winner told Vanity Fair. “Any time I talk about wanting more money, they’re just like, ‘Why don’t you go to the Chiefs and ask them?’ You see how much more money you could be making and, yeah, it hits you in the gut a little bit. It makes you think you’re being taken advantage of. I don’t know if I really pressed the gas if I would get what I’m quote-unquote worth. But I know I enjoy coming to that building every single day.”

(There’s that “hit” word again.)

As one of the top pass-catching tight ends in the NFL, Kelce probably should be making a bit more money than he is. On the other hand, Kelce taking less may allow the Chiefs to give Patrick Mahomes more if he asks for it. Keeping Mahomes happy in Kansas City almost guarantees the Chiefs will have a chance to make the Super Bowl every single year. More Super Bowls means more notoriety and that may be worth more than money for a player like Kelce who wants to remain a star after he’s done playing football.