Travis Kelce once worked an $8 per-hour day job before becoming Chiefs' $34,250,000 star

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is one of the best offensive players in the league. Expert in the hybrid role, Kelce is built like a tank at 6-foot-5 and nearly 265 lbs, combined with speed and athleticism. Kelce became the highest-paid TE after signing a two-year, $34.25 million contract last offseason.

However, things weren't so great for the Westlake native as he struggled to find a place to stay in 2010. In an interview with ESPN in 2017, Kelce revealed that he was thrown out of his college scholarship program and had to work a telemarketing job for $8 an hour. His job was to sit in a cubicle and do surveys on Obamacare while people yelled at him.

“All I had been doing is playing outside, playing sports my entire life," Kelce said. "I had never sat down and tried to earn a living like that. That's not to hit on anybody's 9-to-5; that's just not for me.”

Travis Kelce regrets his suspension from college football team

Like Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce aspired to be an athlete. He, too, played basketball, football and baseball. Kelce could casually throw up to 94 mph.

After completing his high school education at Cleveland High School, he attended the University of Cincinnati. However, he was suspended in 2010 after being caught under the influence of marijuana during a drug test. The temporary suspension caused him to lose a year from the college team and a place in the sweet West Nixon Street apartment.

However, this was a wake-up call for the Chiefs TE to change his ways.

“The light at the end of the tunnel was that if I do what I'm supposed to do instead of being a knucklehead, I can have a way better life than this.”

Brother Jason Kelce helped Travis Kelce redeem himself

Travis Kelce was lucky to have his older brother, Jason, at the same university. Jason took him in and shared the bed if Travis lays waste to his old ways. The room was filled with future prospects: Derek Wolfe, Jason Kelce and Zach Collaros, a CFL quarterback.

Jason didn't stop there. He later requested the then Bearcats coach, Butch Jones, in 2011 to give another chance to Travis. Later, he also helped Travis get drafted by the Chiefs HC, Andy Reid.

In an episode of the New Heights podcast, Reid revealed how his son informed him about Travis, and he later consulted Jason before signing him in 2013.