The Kansas City Chiefs are less than a week away from their annual journey to St. Joseph for training camp at Missouri Western State University. Over these past few weeks, we’ve broken down some key positions of focus on the team’s roster heading into camp.
Here’s a look at what we’ve covered so far: QB | RB | WR
We continue our pre-camp breakdown by looking at the tight ends. The Chiefs will report to camp with six on the roster. Right now, the team doesn’t have much to worry about at the position thanks to having Travis Kelce.
Travis Kelce
Kelce has been nothing short of phenomenal over the last ten seasons, assembling a career that ranks with some of the NFL’s all-time elite receivers like HOFer Jerry Rice. In fact, Kelce is tied with Rice, Marvin Harrison, and Torry Holt for the most consecutive seasons with 80+ receptions.
Kelce also passed former Chiefs great Tony Gonzalez as the franchise’s all-time leader in receiving yards with 11,328.
Although he watched his streak of consecutive 1,000-yard seasons end at seven, the nine-time pro bowler still finished 2023 with 93 receptions for 984 yards and five touchdowns. In the postseason, Kelce caught 32 passes for 355 yards and four touchdowns in four games as the Chiefs sprang their way to a third Super Bowl Championship in five seasons.
Rumors swirled about a possible retirement after the season ended, but Kelce shut those down on July 11 – after the team’s mini-camp drew to a close – by telling reporters during a press conference that he would play “til the wheels fell off”.
Noah Gray
Noah Gray enters his fourth season with the Chiefs since being drafted 162nd overall by the team in 2021. Last season, Gray finished with 23 catches for 305 yards and two touchdowns.
A significant role that Gray plays on the team is contributing as an in-line blocker on rushing plays. Aside from that, Gray has played a variety of other unselfish roles while also contributing to making a big play.
The highlight of Gray’s 2023 campaign was a 12-yard catch during the Chiefs’ game-tying drive late in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 58.
Irv Smith
Irv Smith Jr. signed with the Chiefs as a free agent on March 14. Smith Jr. entered the league as a second-round draft choice by the Minnesota Vikings in 2019. Most recently, the 6-foot-2, 240-pound tight end is coming off of a one-year stint with the Cincinnati Bengals, where he finished 2023 with 18 catchest for 115 yards and one touchdown.
While in Minnesota, Smith Jr. caught 91 passes for 973 yards and ten touchdowns in three seasons. However, a knee injury he suffered in 2021 kept him on the sideline for the entire season. He returned the following year, suiting up for eight contests before getting cut by the Vikings the next off-season.
Jared Wiley
Kansas City selected Jared Wiley in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft following the most productive season of his college career. The star tight end at TCU finished 2023 with 47 catches for 520 yards and eight touchdowns. Wiley’s eight-score season, which included five red zone touchdown receptions, led all FBS tight ends last season.
Wiley’s final year at TCU ended his college career on a high note and he earned First-Team All-Big 12 honors.
Gerrit Price
A former Kansas City native, Gerrit Prince enters his second season with the Chiefs after signing with the team’s practice squad last September, where he spent all of 2023. Now, he’s set to compete for a more prominent role on the active roster going into camp.
In college, Prince’s career is highlighted by his sensational Senior season at UAB in 2021, when he caught 36 passes for 699 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Baylor Cupp
Baylor Cupp signed with the Chiefs last spring as an undrafted free agent. Cupp stands at 6-foot-6 and weighs 260 pounds. In his final season at Texas Tech, Cupp led all Red Raider tight ends with 453 offensive snaps. While his primary role was spent as a blocker, Cupp also finished 2023 with 11 catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns.
Before joining Texas Tech in 2022, Cupp played three seasons at Texas A&M.
Bottom Line
Kansas City only held onto three tight ends after final cuts last season. The last three seasons before that, they had four. Travis Kelce is penciled in as the obvious starter, and Noah Gray is likely to secure the second-string spot. Wiley turned some heads during OTAs over the spring and could be a lock as the third tight-end but will need to fend off Irv Smith Jr. Meanwhile, Prince and Cupp will aim to make the team by contributing on special teams or at least stay with the club via the practice squad.
