Chiefs news: Jody Fortson extended offer for 2023 season

The Kansas City Chiefs have decided to bring back Jody Fortson for another season.

For the last few years, the Kansas City Chiefs have looked stacked at the tight end position. Apparently, general manager Brett Veach likes things that way and sees no need to change what’s working so well. On Tuesday, the Chiefs officially extended a tender offer to exclusive rights free agent Jody Fortson, which means he’ll be back on the roster again for the 2023 season.

Fortson took one of the strangest roads to get to the NFL as a product of Erie Community College and Valdosta State at wide receiver. He went undrafted in 2019, but the Chiefs saw the potential there and invited him to come to the team’s rookie minicamp and the rest is history.

After spending the first two years of his career on the practice squad, Fortson beat the odds and made the active roster in 2021 after a stellar preseason in which Veach knew he wouldn’t be able to sneak Fortson back onto the practice squad. Instead, the Chiefs decided to carry four tight ends (along with Travis Kelce, Blake Bell, and Noah Gray) for the year.

Last year, Bell’s hip injury took him out for the season, but the Chiefs carried all three tight ends once again. Fortson played in 13 games last year but wasn’t as much a part of the offensive puzzle as some projected he might be. He finished the year with 9 catches for 108 yards and 2 touchdowns.

It will be interesting to see how the final competition at the position shakes out if the Chiefs bring back Bell or draft a new face. At some point, the team has to plan for the future beyond Kelce, but Fortson has already beaten the competition so many times that no one should ever bet against him. For now, however, he’s back and ready for another year with Andy Reid’s offense.

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