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Adam Teicher, ESPN Staff WriterNov 23, 2024, 06:00 AM ET
- Covered Chiefs for 20 seasons for Kansas City Star
- Joined ESPN in 2013
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tight end Noah Gray wouldn’t have been anyone’s first choice among candidates on the Kansas City Chiefs to catch a couple of touchdown passes in last week’s game against the Buffalo Bills. The two touchdowns were his first scores of the season.
But when quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw the ball Gray’s way, it was no surprise he would make the play. It’s almost always a completion when Mahomes throws to Gray.
Gray has caught 23-of-26 passes and his catch percentage of 88.5 is the highest for any NFL player who is not a running back.
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“He does everything the right way and he’s learned a ton from [Travis Kelce] and so he knows how to kind of work within the rules of the offense and get himself open and he’s just a guy that’s going to be in the right spot,” Mahomes said. “As a quarterback, if you’re going to give him the football, he’s going to make the play happen.
“He’s not going to talk a lot. He’s going to come to work, do his job, but at the same time, those are the guys you want on your team [because] he’s going to do whatever it takes to win.”
Gray’s reliability is one reason the Chiefs gave him an $18 million contract extension shortly before the start of the season. With a contract now set to expire after the 2027 season, Gray looks to be the eventual replacement for 35-year-old Kelce.
His 23 receptions put him fourth on the Chiefs and one behind Xavier Worthy and Rashee Rice, who are tied for second. Kelce leads the Chiefs with 62 catches.
“He’s a good football player and he does a lot for us,” coach Andy Reid said. “He’s one of those guys that doesn’t get a whole lot of credit for all that he does, but he’s a big-time special teams player, a great tight end. We do a bunch of double tight (end) stuff, plus he’s able to spot Kelce and he comes out of games with quite a few snaps because of the special teams.”
The Chiefs are already counting on him as injuries have limited how many wide receivers they can play at the same time. Kansas City has run 343 plays this season with two tight ends on the field, the most in the NFL.
“His ability to be (a receiving) tight end and run routes and … block and be able to do both of them really well, I think that stands him apart from a lot of guys in this league,” offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said. “You hear me talk a lot about the trust factor of guys being in the right spot at the right time. To be honest with you, I’m not sure if there’s another player on the team that really is at the right spot at the right time within this offense more than what Noah does.
“That’s very valuable and he’s probably one of the more underrated and underappreciated guys from outside of this building when you look at what he does.”
Chiefs tight end Noah Gray has the highest catch percentage for any player who is not a running back. AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
Putting Gray’s catch percentage in perspective, he is far and away the Chiefs’ leader. Kelce catches 76.5% of the passes headed his way and DeAndre Hopkins catches 74.4%.
“He transfers what he does in practice to the game and if you look at it from the practice standpoint, every single rep that he gets, he makes count,” Nagy said. “Sometimes I think what’s even more special about that part of it is he may not be one or two in the progression. He might be three in the progression and when you get back to three in the progression, he’s always going to be there doing the right thing.”
This season has been another slow but steady progression for Gray since the Chiefs drafted him out of Duke in the fifth round in 2021. He was used sparingly as a rookie receiver, catching seven passes.
It was difficult to picture him ever being a realistic replacement for Kelce, even to Gray.
“Duke was a lot of fun and the NFL was a completely different game,” Gray said. “There’s a lot of aspects of my game that I needed to work on, and especially here in Kansas City, we throw the ball a lot. So practicing going out there, working with Pat and those other guys on the route concepts and staying in tune with that and progressing in that as my career has gone on has been super important.”
The Chiefs don’t project Gray to ever be a prolific pass catcher like Kelce, but they didn’t give him a contract extension just for his blocking. He’s on pace for a career-high 39 catches, and they’re satisfied with that, for now.
“Just a smart player, extremely smart player, does a lot of physical stuff that we need in this offense,” Mahomes said. “He’s able to get himself open, he makes the catches whenever he is asked to do it.
“He’s one of those guys that can come in for Travis in spots and I have full confidence that he can go out there and make plays happen as well. And so he’s learned a ton behind Trav and you can see him getting better and better each and every year. And I was happy for him because he’s one of those guys that does it the right way and deserves the contract that he got.”
