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Adam Teicher, ESPN writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tight end Noah Gray wouldn’t have been anyone’s first choice among the Kansas City Chiefs’ candidates to catch a pair 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 in Gray’s direction, it was no surprise that he made the play. It’s almost always completed when Mahomes throws to Gray.
Gray has caught 23 of 26 passes and his 88.5 catch percentage is the highest of any non-running back in the NFL.
“He does everything the right way and has learned a lot from [Travis Kelce] and so he knows how to work within the rules of the offense and get open and he’s just a guy that’s going to be in the right place,” Mahomes said. “As a quarterback, if you’re going to give him the ball, he’s going to make the play happen.
“He’s not going to talk a lot. He’s going to come to work, he’s going to 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 of the reasons the Chiefs gave him an $18 million contract extension shortly before the start of the season. With a contract that expires after the 2027 season, Gray appears to be the eventual replacement for the 35-year-old Kelce.
His 23 receptions placed him fourth among the Chiefs and one behind Xavier Worthy and Rashee Rice, who are tied for second. Kelce leads the Chiefs with 62 receptions.
“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 lot of credit for everything he does, but he’s a great, special player.” Team player, great tight end. We do a lot of double tight end stuff, plus he’s able to spot Kelce and comes out of games with quite a few plays because of special teams.”
The Chiefs already have him as injuries have limited the number of wide receivers who 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 tight end (receiver) and run routes and … block and be able to do both of those things really well, I think that sets him apart from a lot of guys in this league,” offensive coordinator Matt said. Nagy said: “You hear me talk a lot about the trust factor of guys being in the right place at the right time. To be honest, I’m not sure if there’s another player on the team who’s actually in the right place at the right moment within this offense more than Noah.
“That’s very valuable and he’s probably one of the most underrated and underrated guys out of this building when you look at what he does.”
Putting Gray’s sack percentage into perspective, he is by far the leader of the Chiefs. 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 a practice standpoint, every rep he does counts,” Nagy said. “Sometimes I think what’s even more special about that part of it is that it might not be one or two in the progression. It might be three in the progression and when you get back to being three in the progression, it will always be there doing the right thing.” “.
This season has been another slow but steady progression for Gray since the Chiefs selected him out of Duke in the fifth round in 2021. He was used sparingly as a rookie receiver, catching seven passes.
It was hard to imagine him ever being a realistic replacement for Kelce, even Gray.
“Duke was a lot of fun and the NFL was a completely different game,” Gray said. “There are 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, working with Pat and the other guys on route concepts and being in tune with that and progressing on that as my career goes on has been really 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 because of his blocking. He’s on pace for a career-high 39 receptions, and they’re happy with that for now.
“He’s just a smart player, an extremely smart player, who does a lot of physical things that we need in this offense,” Mahomes said. “He’s able to open up, he catches every time they ask him to.
“He’s one of those guys that can fill in for Travis at times and I have full confidence that he can also go out there and make plays happen. And so he’s learned a ton behind Trav and you can see him getting better and better. “And every year. And I was happy for him because he’s one of those guys who does it the right way and deserves the contract he got.”
