Five preseason stars who fooled Kansas City Chiefs fans

1. Tyler Bray

When the Chiefs signed Tyler Bray as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2013, few would have guessed that his tenure in K.C. would last so long or draw so much conversation. So few of these players ever work out and make it onto the active roster.

Bray’s journey is an interesting one. He didn’t make the cut in 2013 and spent the season on the Chiefs’ practice squad, but came back in 2014 to have an excellent preseason. In fact, it was such a good preseason that many thought he might compete for the backup quarterback job—that we could be looking at the quarterback of the future for Kansas City.

Unfortunately, that potential never materialized, really. Bray landed on the Chiefs injured reserve at the end of the 2014 preseason. He was good enough to fight off competition for the final QB spot, but never good enough to ascend the depth chart. He stuck around in K.C. for the next three years and made an appearance in his final game, where he threw one incomplete pass.

The Chiefs let Bray go after the 2017 season, despite reported interest in bringing him back, and he ultimately caught on with the Chicago Bears and former Chiefs’ offensive coordinator Matt Nagy. His on-again, off-again relationship with Chicago continues into 2020 because while he’s not played in a game for the Bears, he has been under contract (primarily on the practice squad) with the team since signing with them in 2018.

Bray will never be a starting quarterback in the NFL, but he’s carved out a nine-year career, mostly on the practice squad, of being a scout team quarterback for the Chiefs and the Bears. That’s a pretty tough road, so it is impressive that he’s been able to hang on this long, frankly.