The Kansas City Chiefs are set to kick off training camp in less than a month, and with the annual trek to St. Joseph nearly here, we're going to spend the next few weeks examining every position group on the roster heading into camp.
We'll continue with the tight ends, where the Chiefs currently employ seven players. Let's take a look at each, beginning the two primary contributors from last season – future Pro Football Hall of Famer Travis Kelce and veteran Noah Gray. After those two, the rest of the Chiefs' tight ends are listed alphabetically.
Travis Kelce
One of the greatest pass-catchers to ever play the game, Kelce is compiling a resume that ranks up there with legendary wide receivers such as Jerry Rice and Marvin Harrison. For example, Kelce owns the NFL record for consecutive seasons with 80+ catches (2016-24), and his active streak of 12 consecutive seasons with at least 800 receiving yards is tied (with Jerry Rice) for the longest of its kind in league history.
Kelce caught 76 passes for 851 yards and five touchdowns last year, ranking fourth among all tight ends in receiving yards. He also owns the NFL record for any player – regardless of position – with 178 postseason catches. Additionally, his 2,078 receiving yards and 20 receiving touchdowns both rank second in NFL postseason history behind only Jerry Rice.
The examples and statistics are practically endless. Kelce is an all-time great in the history of the NFL, and now back for his 14th season, he'll have a chance to build on his already incredible legacy.
Noah Gray
Gray enters his sixth season with Kansas City after catching 21 passes for 178 yards in 2025. It came on the heels of a 2024 campaign in which Gray set career-bests in catches (40), receiving yards (437) and receiving touchdowns (5).
The 27-year-old Gray also, once again, led all Chiefs offensive players with 125 special teams snaps.
Gray has consistently handled a variety of unselfish roles during his time with the Chiefs while also contributing the occasional big play. In terms of the numbers, however, he'll aim to recapture the success he found in 2024 heading into his sixth season as a professional.
Jake Briningstool
An undrafted free agent signee from a year ago, Briningstool impressed during the 2025 offseason training program until a hamstring injury ended his season before it truly began.
Prior to landing on Injured Reserve, Briningstool – a prototypical "move" tight end during his time at Clemson – lined up in the slot on 59.3% of his snaps over his final two seasons in college. He tallied 99 receptions for 1,028 yards and 12 touchdowns in that time, and overall, his 127 career receptions were the most in school history by a tight end.
Briningstool was the No. 10 tight end and a projected fifth-round pick on Dane Brugler's big board for The Athletic ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft. He didn't hear his name called during draft weekend, and an injury derailed his chances of making an impact last year, but he'll now have a chance to pick right back up where he left off as training camp gets underway.
John Michael Gyllenborg
An undrafted free agent signee and a native of nearby Leawood, Gyllenborg attended Rockhurst High School before landing at the University of Wyoming, where he went on to catch 80 passes for 1,023 yards and seven touchdowns in 43 games (with 19 starts).
Gyllenborg is an alum of Bruce Feldman's annual "Freaks List" due to his physical exploits, which he showed off with the third-best broad jump (10 feet, 8 inches) of any tight end at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Here's more from Feldman:
"He has the kind of athleticism at 6-5, 250 pounds that will intrigue NFL scouts. He's hit 21.6 mph and his flying 10-yard time of 0.93 seconds is impressive, as are his 37-inch vertical and 10-8 broad jump. He squatted 500 pounds, benched 350 (up 25 pounds from last year) and cleaned 335."
Mason Pline
The newest member of the team, Pline joined the roster in mid-June following a successful tryout at mandatory minicamp.
Pline, who has yet to appear in a regular-season game during his career, entered the league with the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent signee in 2024. He later went on to spend time on the 49ers' practice squad that year before briefly signing with the New Orleans Saints ahead of the 2025 campaign.
Prior to joining the professional ranks, the 6-foot-6, 254-pound Pline was a basketball player for three years at Division II Ferris State before making the switch to football in 2021. He later transferred to FCS Furman for his final collegiate season, where he caught 32 passes for 287 yards and a team-leading four touchdowns.
Tre Watson
An undrafted rookie signee last year, Watson spent the 2025 season on the Chiefs' practice squad.
The 6-foot-4, 247-pound Watson began his collegiate career at Fresno State, where he played three seasons, before transferring to Texas A&M for the 2024 campaign. He went on to catch 21 passes for 280 yards and one touchdown during his lone season in College Station.
Jared Wiley
A fourth-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, Wiley has appeared in 12 games over the last two seasons. A torn ACL cut his rookie campaign short in 2024 and delayed his debut in 2025, limiting the former TCU star to just five games last year.
Now healthy, however, Wiley will have an opportunity to seize his immense potential in 2026. Keep in mind, Wiley led all FBS tight ends in touchdown catches (8) and red zone touchdown grabs (5) during his final season at TCU in 2023.
He was ranked as the No. 4 tight end in the 2023 class according to The Athletic's Dane Brugler, and now entering his third season with the Chiefs, he'll have a chance to truly show what he can do.
The Bottom Line
The Chiefs have kept exactly four tight ends for Week 1 in each of the last two years, with Travis Kelce, Noah Gray and Jared Wiley making up three of those spots on both occasions.
The fourth tight end on the roster in 2025, Robert Tonyan, is no longer on the team heading into this year's training camp though, potentially opening up a spot for one of the other four tight ends currently on the roster.
Briningstool, in particular, is interesting because of his strong showing during last year's offseason training program before suffering a season-ending injury. He'll compete with John Michael Gyllenborg – an intriguing rookie in the same mold as Briningstool from a year ago – alongside Tre Watson and Mason Pline for that potential fourth spot in the tight end room as camp gets underway.
