As the Kansas City Chiefs started cutting down their roster to the magic number of 53, they left a few surprises here and there across the depth chart. One thing that didn't shock many people, though, is that Andy Reid and Brett Veach kept four tight ends once again.
The end is obviously near for Travis Kelce, who is heading into his 14th season at 37 years old, but it has been for a while, and previous seasons with four tight ends have yet to yield a true replacement for Mr. Taylor Swift.
How Veach has tried to find Kelce's replacement so far...
For years, the obvious prodigal son in Reid's eyes was Noah Gray out of Duke. Drafting him in the fifth round was a no-brainer for Veach back in 2021, but since he signed a three-year contract extension, he has proven not to be the best replacement for the future Hall of Famer.
Veach and Reid may have noticed this downward trend and have tried to get the next Kelce by drafting Jared Wiley out of TCU in the 4th round just five months before offering Gray that deal. They also traded for guys like Peyton Hendershot and brought back aging tight ends like Jody Fortson in between.
Wiley, a 6-foot-6, 249-pound tight end who has almost the exact same build as Kelce (6-foot-5, 250 pounds), has plenty of upside on the sides of the offensive line, but he was never truly a pass-catching type outside of his final season as a Horned Frog. That year, he put up over 500 yards, but the eight receiving touchdowns really propelled him up in the draft.
The hope is that Wiley can blossom into the type of player that Kelce has made himself into, but the injury bug has hampered his first two seasons, and now he has another obstacle in his way to becoming No. 87's eventual replacement.
At the moment, it would appear that Wiley is safe for at least a year, especially since he is still on a rookie contract. Gray, however, might be one of the few offensive players whom Kansas City could offload after the season, or even before the trade deadline, in a move that makes sense and could yield a fourth- or fifth-round pick.
Clemson's big tight end might bring back respect to #88
After going undrafted in the 2025 NFL Draft, the high-profile rookie signed with Kansas City and shined early in rookie minicamp. An injury killed his rookie season until late last year, when Reid and the Chiefs were already well past the point of no return.
Now, Briningstool has a real shot at showing off his hands and his blocking abilities, as he made the 53-man roster and is trailing two players who could be worth trading when the deadline comes knocking in a couple of months.
Briningstool's best ability at Clemson was his availability, much like Kelce's at Cincinnati, and an injury killed his rookie season—also like Kelce's. Not only that, Clemson utilized Briningstool's hands often during his final three seasons—when he averaged 41 receptions, 437 yards and five touchdowns per year from his sophomore through his senior season.
He showed those hands even more during the Chiefs' three preseason games this year, leading the team with eight catches (tied with Jalen Royals) and amassing 76 yards (second only to Andrew Armstrong's 85). Clemson's standout tight end is standing out among the crowd in a crowded tight end room, and he's showing that he can catch just as well and as often as those in the also-crowded wide receiver room.
It's refreshing to see a tight end project actually look like he can pan out, even though it is still very early in his career. Not only that, it's refreshing to see a Chiefs player wear No. 88 and look confident at tight end, like Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez did for 11 years.
Since Gonzalez left in 2008, there have not been many reasons to buy a new No. 88 jersey—with no disrespect to guys like Fortson, Junior Hemingway, Anthony Becht, Ross Travis, or Hendershot—but Briningstool might be the next-best Chiefs tight end to rock the double eights.
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