What we learned about the Kansas City Chiefs tight ends in 2017

Our season-in-review for the Kansas City Chiefs now takes a look at Travis Kelce and company and what we learned about the team’s tight ends.

For the last few years, the Kansas City Chiefs have been playing with, essentially, the same hand at tight end. There’s the known quantity, a tremendous athletic target in Travis Kelce that creates mismatches against pretty much any franchise, and then a series of unknowns or even projects brought aboard by John Dorsey in the hopes of striking gold.

Chiefs fans have watched names like Demetrius Harris and Ross Travis get more and more playing time as they’ve grown accustomed to Andy Reid’s system—or maybe even playing football in general. Both players were former college basketball players who Dorsey decided could look good in pads if they could make the requisite adjustments.

Heading into the 2017, would one of those players finally make the leap? And could Travis Kelce continue his dominance? Let’s take a closer look at what we expected, what happened, and what lessons we learned in the process.

The Expectations

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The only thing that Chiefs fans could reasonably expect from the team’s group of tight ends is a Pro Bowl season for Travis Kelce, barring injury of course. Kelce had carried the load in the passing game from the previous season as wideout Jeremy Maclin dealt with injuries over the course of 2016. The end result was 1,125 receiving yards for Kelce and not even 600 yards for anyone else on the roster—Kelce nearly doubled the efforts of his teammates that year.

Moving into 2017, the hope was that Tyreek Hill could ascend the ladder as a No. 1 receiver while also providing Kelce with someone to take the heat from him full-time. If Kelce could be free from the constant double teams, how much better could he get?

Beyond Kelce, the hope for 2017 was the same as it has been for 2016 and even 2015: for the Chiefs to develop, find, hire, resuscitate anyone else who can reliably catch the ball. Despite carrying Gavin Escobar for most of the offseason and preseason, they released him at the last minute to go into battle once again with Harris, who has been dealing with suspect hands his entire career and Travis, another project even less along than Harris.

Any sort of expectations for Harris or Travis was simply about continuing to grow into the part—or be cast aside for someone who can fill the role.

The Reality

The good news for the Chiefs in 2017 is that Kelce performed exactly as hoped. He caught 83 passes for 1,038 yards, his second straight season over 1,000 yards, and was named to the Pro Bowl for the third time in his career. Kelce also became a more reliable target in the end zone, putting up a career-high 8 touchdowns. He also earned his first postseason touchdown in the team’s brutal loss to the Tennessee Titans.

Beyond Kelce, however, nothing went according to plan. Harris came up with some great catches in key moments and dropped just as many. Brett Veach finally ended the Ross Travis experiment and rewarded the versatile and tough fullback/tight end Orson Charles with a spot on the active roster after he’d starred in practice for multiple weeks on the team’s practice squad. Unfortunately the hands aren’t there even if the effort is.

Lessons Learned

There’s nothing more to learn about Travis Kelce other than to sit back and enjoy one of the best tight ends in the NFL do his thing. Teams still cannot find an answer to defend him, and just like the Tony Gonzalez days, there’s a real joy in watching such an incredible mismatch when he suits up for your team. Kelce is a tremendous talent and there’s no reason why the Chiefs can’t reward him with another 100-catch, 1,000 yard season in 2018.

As for Harris, for some it’s a surprise that he’s still on the roster, but until there’s a known quantity who can take over, the front office clearly thinks it’s best to keep him around. What the team does with Harris this offseason will be an interesting subplot. The talent is clearly there and he’s a very willing blocker who is growing each year. Then again, many fans have grown tired of the repeating narrative.

It was interesting to watch Orson Charles play this year and think about his role on the team in the future. He’s an exciting young player who gives 100 percent and is tough as nails. He’s also got some interesting upside and versatility. That said, on a team that already employs one of the few fullbacks in the league, his presence is repetitive.

Will the Chiefs keep Anthony Sherman? Will Orson Charles take his place? Will Brett Veach completely restock the depth chart this offseason or roll into the season with the same underwhelming options? A reliable second tight end won’t make this offense, but it could accent it very, very well.

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