Chiefs position battle: Tight end is anyone’s guess behind Travis Kelce

It’s anyone guess as to who will end up backing up Travis Kelce on the depth chart.

The good news is that the top spot of the depth chart at tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs is not only set in stone, but it’s occupied by a future Hall of Famer still in his prime. With Travis Kelce sitting in as the team’s starting tight end, the position is in good hands for the foreseeable future.

The bad news is that after Kelce, it’s anyone’s guess as to how this preseason will shake out.

The lack of preseason games, the timing of injuries, the arrival of new faces—it’s all coming together to form a major cloud over a couple spots on the future roster of the Chiefs. In the past, the backup tight end roles have been fairly predictable. Demetrius Harris was in K.C. for five seasons, and even last year, Blake Bell had substantially more experience than anyone else.

This year, however, the race seems to be wide open. It’s not as if Andy Reid‘s offense features the backup tight ends all that much on the whole, but every position is important and the uncertainty here could be filled with potential or frustratingly thin. The difference at this point is impossible to tell.

Kelce, of course, is set and will hope to add a fifth consecutive season of 1,000 yards receiving to his record-setting resume. Who will back him up? Good question. Let’s take a look at the position battle and break down the likelihood of each candidate making the final roster.