Will Tyler Bray return to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2018?

The Kansas City Chiefs have several decisions to make about quarterback in 2018, but one overlooked one is whether or not Tyler Bray will return.

Kansas City Chiefs fans have not seen what the coaching staff has. That much should be made clear, because there’s a reason the Chiefs have kept Tyler Bray around on the roster for the last five-plus seasons.

Of course, Bray is hardly the quarterback anyone is talking about at this point in the Chiefs offseason. The Chiefs still gainfully employ both Alex Smith and Patrick Mahomes, and both players will undoubtedly be the subject of countless columns between now and the start of next season. Yet lost in the discussion of Smith vs. Mahomes is the reality that the Chiefs will have to remake the entire position on the depth chart, which means Bray’s future must be considered.

The downside

For those focused only on the short-term, the idea of bringing back the former Tennessee product at all is an unwanted one. The Chiefs gave Bray a chance to show what he could do in garbage time against the Denver Broncos in Week 17 and he, well, played like garbage. If he can’t even handle that bit of business, then it’s easy for some of Chiefs Kingdom to question what he could possibly handle in the future.

Over the last five years, Bray has gone from interesting undrafted prospect to the predictable detritus at the bottom of the depth chart. In fact, Bray himself seems to be the ideal player to test the limits of the word “prospect”—as in how many years can a player still be referenced by that term? Given how little of an impact he’s made in a half-decade with the Chiefs, it might be better for everyone to just move on and for the Chiefs to find another exciting young developmental talent to occupy the QB3 role.

The upside

For those willing to give Bray a fair shake, the reality is that the Week 17 appearance is a ridiculously small sample size and it’s unfair to judge Bray at all based on that.

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In fact, Bray has quite a bit going for him, even if it’s only the belief of the coaching staff and front office up until now. Consider this fact: Bray not only stuck on the roster as an undrafted free agent in 2013, the very first draft for John Dorsey and Andy Reid in Kansas City, but Bray has bested every bit of competition brought in over the years.

For two years, Bray remained on the roster with Aaron Murray, the team’s fifth round choice in the 2014 NFL Draft. In 2016, Dorsey brought in more competition than ever for the bottom of the depth chart at quarterback with another fifth round choice in Kevin Hogan. Behind Alex Smith, it was a three-way race with Murray, Hogan and Bray. Three months after the competition started, it was Bray, once again, left standing as the only member of the trio left on the active roster.

For the Chiefs to keep Bray above all others for the last half-decade has to mean something, even if it’s nothing seen by the public just yet.

The uncertainty

If the Chiefs are going to make the expected moves at quarterback to replace Alex Smith with Patrick Mahomes, then that means two quarterback slots will be open. Mahomes will be the starter, but given his lack of experience, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Chiefs bring in a name veteran of some kind—perhaps Chase Daniel or Mark Sanchez or someone else. That leaves a third position open, either for a new developmental talent or, perhaps, a chance for Bray to return.

The reason the Chiefs might want to actually bring Bray back into the fold is because two things would be certain in this case:

He would be dirt cheap. There’s zero reason for any team to give Tyler Bray more than the minimum required salary for a player of his experience, including Kansas City.

He would bring five years of familiarity. Developmental talent can be exciting, but it’s nice to know that Bray would have a great handle on how and why the Chiefs do what they do. Plus, at the age of 26, Bray could still be considered that developmental talent.

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No one knows for sure what will happen for the Chiefs quarterbacks at this point, and Tyler Bray is certainly the least of the team’s concerns at the position. But at some point Brett Veach has to make a decision on how to move forward at QB3, and it will be interesting to see if Bray can return for a sixth season.

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