KC Chiefs: Travis Kelce keeps tight end as draft luxury

At this juncture, with only three weeks left before the 2022 NFL Draft and most of free agency’s top targets signed for the upcoming season, the Kansas City Chiefs are in a real pickle. If you consider the team’s Super Bowl window open for the coming year, and you should, then the Chiefs are a team in need of impact players at a number of positions, depending on your perspective. And unfortunately, the chances to trade for or sign such players have dwindled considerably.

Think back to the recent trade of Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins. Wide receiver was already an issue this offseason for the Chiefs, but now the team lacks any dependable elite option going forward. Even worse was the timing of the deal, which if traded two weeks earlier, would have at least freed up the funds to be able to chase one of the better corners or pass rushers on the open market. Instead, the Chiefs freed up cash after the biggest fish had been caught.

Wide receiver is just one example of a need for the Chiefs and it’s not even close to the greatest. You can make a case for cornerback and defensive end as greater needs, and the team could also use further depth at offensive tackle, safety, and linebacker. Even running back gets considerable attention in most mock drafts for the Chiefs knowing the injury history for Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

As long as Travis Kelce looks like he’s still living in his prime, the Kansas City Chiefs simply don’t need to chase after any of the draft’s best TEs.

All of this is important to understand for the greater context of discussing the present and future of tight end. Speaking of mock drafts, it is not uncommon to find the Chiefs often linked to one of the better tight ends in the draft. On paper, it makes sense. Travis Kelce is well into his thirties at this point, and Father Time is only held off by one man in the National Football League. Kelce might be the best player at his position, but at some point, we all recognize that Kelce will hit the wall, become less effective at what he does after so many years of incredible production, and the Chiefs will be forced to look elsewhere with those 120-plus targets.

When it comes to handing off the torch, again on paper, it makes sense for the team to have someone waiting in the wings, someone who can learn from Kelce while he is so incredibly effective, in order to maintain offensive continuity.

It’s also a dream segment, a scenario untethered from any real context.

While it might be nice to have TE1B as an understudy already on the roster, the truth is that such a player is going to require the investment of a solid draft asset. If the Chiefs wanted to secure Trey McBride or Greg Dulcich or even Jelani Woods, they’re likely going to have to pony up a selection in the second or third, or fourth rounds, respectively. Sorry, that’s just not worth it.

Going in on tight end in the 2022 NFL Draft means not going in on another position, and given the level of needs at the aforementioned positions of need, the Chiefs would misallocate resources by grabbing a tight end. Even if the Chiefs have already taken one player at defensive end or corner or wide receiver, the need is there for quantity as well as quality in all three spaces, which means the Chiefs would still be better served by doubling up at places of need—and that’s especially true knowing the boom/bust rate of draft picks in general.

It sounds great for the Chiefs to land their third great tight end in franchise history after Tony Gonzalez and Kelce with some proper planning, but that has to come in ’23 at the earliest. For now, Noah Gray in his second season and Jody Fortson coming off of injury should provide enough depth and young talent to keep the chains moving for another year, especially given the level of competition with other young prospects on the roster Blake Bell back for another season.

The Chiefs will move on from Kelce at some point, but that problem is nothing they should be worrying about at this stage of the organizational plan.