CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Just before halftime on Sunday, the Chiefs were in the midst of another elongated drive. On the drive’s 13th play, quarterback Patrick Mahomes made a mistake: His short pass to Xavier Worthy was behind the rookie receiver for an incompletion.
Mahomes responded with excellent execution on the next play, a third-and-4 snap from the Carolina Panthers’ 11-yard line. After receiver Justin Watson went in motion across the formation, Mahomes noticed an interesting detail of the Panthers’ coverage: Neither safety was in his usual spot. That allowed Mahomes to correctly anticipate the Panthers’ Cover 0 blitz.
“Hey, easy, easy, easy, easy,” Mahomes shouted to his teammates. “It’s Cover 0.”
Mahomes then changed the Chiefs’ play, both the routes of his pass catchers and his pass protection from the offensive line and running back Samaje Perine. Once the play began, the Chiefs exposed the Panthers’ coverage. Mahomes was never touched and he found his best one-on-one matchup: tight end Noah Gray running a post route against cornerback Dane Jackson.
Gray caught Mahomes’ pass in the end zone, prompting a fist pump from Travis Kelce, the future Hall of Fame tight end. Gray, though, didn’t celebrate by dancing in the end zone or spiking the ball. Instead, Gray did exactly what Kelce used to do back in 2018, during Mahomes’ first season as a starter: He pointed back to his quarterback like an NBA forward pointing to his point guard for assisting on a basket.
“Pat gave me the answer to the test,” Gray said of his touchdown after the game. “He told me what coverage it was pre-snap and that’s just the blessing you have of playing with a quarterback like that. The offensive line did a great job of blocking that up and the receivers did a great job running their routes to pop me open.”
BACK-TO-BACK WEEKS WITH BACK-TO-BACK SCORES FOR NOAH 😤 pic.twitter.com/LeYiTLwkkt
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) November 24, 2024
In his fourth season, Gray has become the Chiefs’ best offensive role player, a contributor who has gained Mahomes’ full trust.
Running routes alongside Kelce, Gray led the Chiefs against the Panthers with two touchdown receptions, his second consecutive impressive performance after his two touchdown receptions the previous week against the Buffalo Bills. Including Sunday’s game, Gray has recorded 27 receptions on 30 targets this season for a career-high 315 yards and a career-high four touchdowns.
“He does everything the right way,” Mahomes said of Gray last week. “He’s learned a ton from Travis, so he knows how to kind of work within the rules of the offense and get himself open. He’s just a guy that’s going to be in the right spot.
“As a quarterback, you know if you’re going to give him the ball, he’s going to make the play happen. Those are the guys you want on your team because you know that he’s going to do whatever it takes to win.”
Oftentimes, Gray is not Mahomes’ primary target. That role is usually for Kelce and receivers such as Rashee Rice, DeAndre Hopkins or Worthy.
But Gray’s 90 percent reception rate is the second highest for any non-running back with at least 30 targets (Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth’s is 92.1 percent).
GRAY WITH THE WIIIIIDE OPEN SCORE 🙌 pic.twitter.com/MAaudu8EF0
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) November 24, 2024
“I’ve really taken to what he’s done as far as the details — his practice habits, his in-game adjustments (and) making plays when given a chance,” coordinator Matt Nagy said of Gray last week. “He’s Mr. Consistent. I think it’s very valuable. He’s probably one of the more underrated and underappreciated guys — from outside of this building — when you look at what he does.”
One way Gray has improved his receiving skills is by starting to imitate a route-running skill that Kelce has perfected.
Just like Kelce, Gray has been able to match Mahomes’ ad-libbing ability when scrambling out of the pocket with his own improvisation after running his initial route to re-establish eye contact with his quarterback.
The best example of this came against the Bills when Mahomes scrambled to his right in the fourth quarter on a play that began from the 1-yard line. Gray was lined up as the fullback, running a flat route. When Gray noticed that Mahomes needed someone to get open, he turned to the left and ran to the back corner of the end zone to get open against man-to-man coverage from cornerback Rasul Douglas. Mahomes delivered the pass and Gray jumped to catch the ball and made sure to land with both of his feet in bounds.
“Pat’s preparation, his leadership, it’s something I’m fortunate enough to play alongside,” Gray said. “I love it. It gets me motivated every time we go out there for a long drive. Having a leader like that, that prepares every single week and knows defenses and knows the game plan super well. I’m just fortunate.”
Just before the season began, the Chiefs signed Gray to a three-year, $18 million extension. The deal signaled that Gray would be an ascending target for Mahomes after Kelce retires, whenever that might be. Since then, Gray has become Mahomes’ most reliable pass catcher not named Kelce.
“To me, it’s not a surprise,” right guard Trey Smith, a fellow fourth-year player, said of Gray. “I take it back to the Senior Bowl (in 2021), watching how Noah operated that entire week — the professionalism, how serious he takes his craft and how hard he works. The results are there and he’s worked his tail off for it.
“It’s well-deserved. There’s a lot of things Noah does that sort of go unseen a lot of times. For him to get that credit, I couldn’t be happier for him. I love watching Noah ball and do his thing. He’s going to continue to be a great player.”
During the 2021 NFL Draft, the Chiefs selected Gray in the fifth round before grabbing Smith in the sixth.
As the fifth round progressed that day, the Houston Texans, with the 147th pick, selected Brevin Jordan, a tight end from Miami (Fla.). The Chiefs wanted to select Gray, whom they had scouted and targeted since the start of the 2019 season, as the next tight end.
Two different deals became possible. General manager Brett Veach worked with the New York Jets and another team he, at the time, declined to reveal. Once the Jets were on the clock with the 162nd pick, they called the Chiefs back with a question: Is your guy still on the board? The Chiefs and Jets agreed to swap picks. The Chiefs traded No. 175 and a sixth-round pick (No. 207) to the Jets for No. 162 and a sixth-round pick (No. 226).
We have an affinity for tight ends that wear 8️⃣7️⃣ @noahgray87 pic.twitter.com/0o5f6yO0VI
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) May 1, 2021
At the time, the Chiefs believed Gray possessed the five main qualities they desired most in the pre-draft evaluation period: intelligence, durability, production, consistency and leadership.
Before the draft, Gray was one of Duke’s team captains (leadership), a player who was named to the Academic All-ACC team (intelligence). He played in 48 games during his college career (durability) and was effective as a receiver (production) while dropping just three passes out of 107 catchable targets during his career (consistency), according to Pro Football Focus. Coach Andy Reid was also intrigued by Gray’s versatility. In his last college season, Gray recorded 237 snaps in the slot, 139 on the line at the traditional tight end spot and 120 in the backfield.
Among the 11 tight ends who were selected in the 2021 draft, Gray has earned the highest overall grade (ranked 12th with a 73.6 grade) this season, according to Pro Football Focus. In fact, Gray’s grade is higher than Kelce’s (ranked 16th with a 70.3 overall grade).
The highest-graded Chiefs in Week 12 vs the Panthers:
🥇 Noah Gray – 82.0
🥈 Creed Humphrey – 80.4
🥉 DeAndre Hopkins – 77.0
🏅 Patrick Mahomes – 75.9
🏅 Mike Danna – 75.5 pic.twitter.com/9oV1L7ebZE— PFF KC Chiefs (@PFF_Chiefs) November 25, 2024
With two productive players at the position, the Chiefs lead the league with 381 offensive snaps featuring two or more tight ends, according to TruMedia.
Playing in all 11 games this season, Gray recorded 303 snaps on the line at the traditional tight end spot, 92 in the slot, 34 as a wide receiver and 36 in the backfield. Gray has yet to drop a pass. Mahomes’ passer rating when he targets Gray is 122.2, the second highest on the team behind Hopkins, who has played five games.
Nagy explained last week that Gray has become such an effective player because he loves to practice and treats every practice rep as if it’s going to happen in the upcoming game.
“He may not be one or two in the progression,” Nagy said of Gray. “He might be three in the progression. When (Mahomes) gets back to three, (he) knows he’s always going to be there doing the right thing. Usually, you get that with one and two.
“Sometimes in three, it might be a take-a-play-off type of deal (in practice). He’s always there and always in that spot. He just takes that to the game.”
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(Top photo: Jim Dedmon / Imagn Images)