The increased role (and trust) for Noah Gray
The Chiefs' TE2 has rightfully earned a larger role and Patrick Mahomes' trust.
Being TE2 in Kansas City is not an easy job in 2024.
It requires being willing to do a lot of dirty work in the trenches as well as being able to line up all over the field. It requires knowing that your target share is going to be limited but that you absolutely NEED to be ready when your name is called. It requires understanding the intricacies of one of the more complicated offense in the league as a blocker and a receiver. And maybe toughest of all, it requires being aware that everything you do is going to be compared to the greatest receiving TE to ever walk the face of the earth.
Noah Gray has shown himself to be up to that challenge, and is currently having his best season yet with the Chiefs while doing all of those things in an increased role.
Gray’s trust from Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid appears to be at an all-time high, and that was on display against the Panthers (in a game where the Chiefs, astonishingly or perhaps not-so-astonishingly, needed every yard Gray could give them). Gray’s 2 touchdowns came on the heels of a 2 TD performance against the Bills the week prior. Those 4 TDs in two weeks doubled Gray’s career TD output (he had 4 TDs in three and a half seasons prior to the last two weeks).
Given the sudden uptick in role (Gray has 9 targets in the last two weeks), and given the longstanding references to Gray on Only Weird Games (and previously Time’s Ours) as a majestic white horse on a sandy beach, it feels like it’s high time I write about the Chiefs’ TE2, who is having a career year while the rest of the offense continues to find its footing. Gray’s 27 catches (on a mere 30 targets!) is one shy of his previous career high (28 in both 2022 and 2023), and his stellar 10.5 yards per target makes him a bright spot worth discussing (he’s already surpassed his career high in yardage).
And all that, to be honest, misses a bit how much he’s grown as a player Mahomes and Reid have come to rely on to be able to know every aspect of the offense and win in a variety of ways. Let’s talk about the guy who has long been sitting in the titan-sized shade of Travis Kelce. The man has certainly earned it.