Just in time for the start of their season, the Chiefs have worked out an extension with Noah Gray. The tight end’s agency announced on Thursday a deal has been worked out. 
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network notes this pact is three years in length and has a value of $19.5MM. Gray will receive a $6MM signing bonus and $10MM in total compensation locked in at signing. He was set to enter the final season of his rookie contract, so today’s news means he will remain in Kansas City through 2027.
Gray logged a minor offensive role during his rookie season, but he was a core special teams contributor. He has remained a fixture in terms of third phase duties since then, but he has also chipped in on offense. The 25-year-old has posted back-to-back years with 28 receptions, totaling 604 yards and three touchdowns during that span. A similar workload should be expected for years to come.
The former fifth-rounder has shown to be an effective run blocker, and he even filled in as Kansas City’s long snapper for a spell last season. Gray has seen his special teams snap percentage drop with each passing season, but in 2023 that figure was 52% and he could continue to be a key presence in that respect moving forward. With Travis Kelce set to collect just over $34MM over the next two years, Kansas City has a pair of notable tight end investments on the books.
While Kelce is obviously set to continue handling a heavy workload in the Chiefs’ passing game, Gray could continue developing as a complementary option in that respect. The latter has averaged just under 11 yards per reception in both of the last two seasons. Of course, one of the defending champions’ key offseason priorities was adding at the receiver position, so Gray will have new competition for targets in 2024. His other offensive contributions have him set to remain on the field as a regular member of the unit, though.
Gray was set to carry a cap hit of $3.19MM this season; that figure could be altered by this extension. The Chiefs entered Thursday with just over $13MM in projected 2025 cap space, and keeping Gray in the fold will eat into that flexibility to an extent. Still, doing so has ensured a key auxiliary member of the team’s offense will not reach free agency next spring.
Unrelated to post, but a big game for Worthy against the Ravens. Likely for Baltimore played well but couldn’t drag his feet enough to get the tying TD. Still, Jackson had him open at the corner pylon two plays before and missed Flowers over the middle as well. A game of inches …
People aren’t saying it, but give linebacker Bolton credit. He rode Likely just enough out of bounds.
Both are true. Jackson had some embarrassingly bad throws during the second half. As the announcers are touting how special he is running the ball (and he is quite special), he really has some work to do as a passer. He’s much better than he was given credit for initially, but the thing that holds him back is precision passing at long distance. As you said, the end zone is one of those things. Every quarterback has a bad throw here and there, but I saw (in my estimation) three bad throws in a row at a critical juncture to take the lead. Even the greatest quarterbacks have failed to deliver at times for their teams, and this was just the first game of the year, so it’s not the worst.
Jackson did make, as usual, several great plays to keep it competitive. Not to mention, other errors-like Tucker’s missed field goal and some bad blocking here and there, also made an impact (not to mention some below average officiating on some would-be false starts all night). But Jackson needs to find a way to fully utilize his receivers (not just one target) to find a way to get ahead against these good teams. He’s a good player, respectable person, and is obviously extremely committed to getting better and winning, so I’m positive about his ability to do so. Last night, though, it was something that showed up in a bad moment.
Gray is a really good backup who, on another team, may have earned more starting snaps than he’s gotten. Obviously it’s hard to do so when the player in front if you has such a n in tune connection with the quarterback, and both are likely headed for the Hall of Fame. But Gray is also a better blocker than Kelce (leading to an infamous “get away with it because of who you are” blowup several months back…), and uses the distraction well when both are on the field. Would that ability translate to a starting role? It’s possible, but you really wouldn’t be able to tell until he becomes the focal point at that position-which obviously isn’t happening with Kelce there.
Kelce’s age and Gray’s earning his snaps points to the Chiefs thinking so, but when replacing a player of Kelce’s caliber without a go-to receiver reliably in the future, I wouldn’t expect them to just be content with handing the reigns over to Gray without bringing in competition. Still, there’s no reason to believe that the Chiefs don’t think that Gray couldn’t be that guy, and they have a couple if years now to find out.