For a rookie tight end like Jared Wiley, the Kansas City Chiefs offer a rare opportunity.
The fourth-round pick (131st overall) gets a chance to learn from a position mate — Travis Kelce, who may go down as the best tight end in NFL history.
“I’ve been studying him for like three or four years. So just being able to be in the same position room as him now, it’s just kind of a starstruck feeling,” Wiley said. “Just being able to absorb some information from him and learn from him and see his habits and kind of just be a fly on the wall for what he does day in and day out, I’m super excited about that.”
Kelce has even gone so far to say that Wiley is further along than he was as a rookie heading into his first training camp.
So it’s convenient to say the protégé is the replacement for the mentor, who will turn 35 this season. Kelce’s recent contract extension, which which made him the NFL’s highest-paid tight end, goes through 2027.
But more than replacing Kelce, it’s about adding to what the Chiefs, who also signed tight end Irv Smith as a free agent this offseason, already have.
The Chiefs like using multiple tight end sets. In fact, they made their latest run through the postseason by emphasizing 13 personnel (one running back, three tight end groupings).
According to Zebra Technologies, the Chiefs used the grouping 24% of the time in the wildcard win against the Miami Dolphins and 23.4% of the time in the divisional round against the Buffalo Bills.
And the Chiefs didn’t resign Blake Bell, one of the three tight ends they used in those sets.
Though the Chiefs have listed the 6-6, 249-pound Wiley and 6-5, 250-pound Kelce with similar heights and weights, they have very different playing styles.
Kelce is a future Hall of Famer, but that’s really because of his exquisite receiving skills. Wiley is known for his blocking skills as much as his ability to catch passes.
His large frame, which should help as a blocker once there is more contact during training camp, made him an easy-to-spot, red-zone target during minicamp.
Arrowhead Pride’s Pete Sweeney reported six catches for Wiley on the second day of the three-day camp, including three touchdowns.
“He’s a big target, good player,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said. “He’s got a nice feel for the game.”
Kelce has credited some of his mastery of the subtle nuances of Reid’s complicated offense to his time as quarterback. He played that position in high school and then was a Wildcat quarterback/tight end during his redshirt freshman year in college at Cincinnati.
Wiley also played quarterback in high school before transitioning to tight end in college.
“That was a little different,” Wiley said. “A lot of run blocking drills, a lot of practicing went into it.”
Another major transition is under way for Wiley as he makes the jump from the college game, where he had 47 catches for 520 yards and eight touchdowns at TCU during a fifth-year senior season, to the NFL, but Kelce has been impressed so far.
“I would say he’s a lot further along than I was as a rookie in terms of just understanding the offense and really seeing the field,” Kelce said. “J Wiley, man, I’ll tell you what: He’s got a lot of upside.”
