One Kansas City Chiefs 2nd-year player had bigger role vs. Arizona. Did you notice?
Brett Veach was talking about his team’s receiver position, but his mind soon drifted in another direction.
This was late July at Chiefs training camp, and the Kansas City Chiefs general manager was asked by a reporter how he felt about his team’s talent on the outside following the Tyreek Hill trade.
Veach spoke for a few seconds about that, then pivoted. It was only right, he said, to talk about the team’s talented tight end class with this discussion too.
And also someone who could play a more prominent role in 2022.
“I think Noah Gray is going to have a really good year,” Veach said then. “He’s gotten better and better and better.”
Some six weeks later, the Chiefs’ season-opening win certainly seemed to back Veach’s assertion.
Gray, a fifth-round draft pick by the Chiefs last season, had one of his most productive games in Sunday’s 44-21 win. He played 37 offensive snaps against Arizona — the third-highest mark of his career — while also posting the second-highest grade of his career according to analysis at Pro Football Focus.
The shift to getting bigger players on the field could be part of a bigger-picture trend for the Chiefs this season while countering the defensive looks across from them. Buffalo, for instance, often countered two-high-safety shells last season by getting a fullback in the game more often while picking on an opposing team’s smaller defenders.
With Hill no longer on the Chiefs roster, KC could have more opportunities for personnel versatility. Coach Andy Reid mentioned in his opening statement after the win that the team put out “quite a few two-tight-end sets and three-tight-end sets, so the tight ends got some good work in today.”
Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, meanwhile, said the multiple-tight-end looks Sunday were partially the result of the team trying to take advantage of Arizona weaknesses from film study.
“We thought that we could create some matchup issues,” Bieniemy said. “Also, too, we thought we could create a few things in the run game as well.”
That showed early when Gray first checked in on KC’s third play. His kick-out block helped to open a hole for a Clyde Edwards-Helaire seven-yard run.
The next play, Gray also joined teammates to seal the edge as Edwards-Helaire gained 18 more.
When asked specifically about Gray, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce described him as “a guy that just puts his heart on the line every single day, every single game.”
“He was working, from the first quarter to the fourth, playing all phases. Special teams, offense and getting moved around, asked to do a lot for a young player,” Kelce said. “And he just keeps rising to the occasion.”
The cat-and-mouse game will be worth monitoring again this week, as the Chiefs host the Los Angeles Chargers. Their coach, Brandon Staley, rose in prominence thanks to his innovative two-high looks as defensive coordinator with the Los Angeles Rams in 2020.
Gray and teammate Jody Fortson appear to give KC another chance at a counter-punch.
With more tight ends, the Chiefs potentially can go to a broader playbook with more calls available under center. That could add more variety to the run game while also giving the Chiefs more flexibility to run either left or right (some shotgun plays limit those possibilities).
KC also can use Gray creatively as a pass blocker, where he held his own against Arizona. And though Gray had just one catch for 10 yards in the opener, quarterback Patrick Mahomes singled him out at the end of training camp, saying he was one of the team’s standouts from a pass-catching perspective.
“Noah, Jody, Kelc, they’re all just great playmakers,” Chiefs receiver Skyy Moore said after the game. “Our tight end group is really strong.”
It was a comment that echoed the Chiefs’ GM from two months earlier.
With these Chiefs — for a game — showcasing a collection of talent in their attempt to replace a traded superstar.
“I feel like we just we got a whole lot of weapons, a whole lot of playmakers and just a whole lot of ways to put the ball in the end zone,” Moore said. “So I feel like we showed the league that (Sunday).”
This story was originally published September 13, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
