Hours before their 2024 NFL season opener, the Kansas City Chiefs and tight end Noah Gray agreed to a three-year, $18 million contract extension. The deal includes a $10.1 million signing bonus, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported.
Gray, going into his fourth season, caught 28 passes for 305 yards and two touchdowns as the backup to Travis Kelce last season. He started 10 games for Kansas City as the offense featured two-tight end sets, playing 592 offensive snaps overall. (Gray played an additional 219 snaps on special teams.)
Chiefs general manager Brett Veach told reporters last week that the plan is to play Gray less on special teams and give him a bigger role in the offense.
“It would be good to take Noah off some of those things,” Veach said, via the Kansas City Star. “I think Noah continues to get better, and he’s a guy that I think we want to feature [in the offense] a little bit more.”
The Chiefs’ 2021 fifth-round draft pick (No. 162 overall) out of Duke was going into the final year of his rookie contract at a salary of $3.1 million. In three seasons, Gray has 63 receptions for 640 yards and four touchdowns.
With Kelce signed for one more season through 2025 and on the tail end of his likely Hall of Fame career, it appears as if signing Gray to an extension also sets the team up for its post-Kelce future at tight end. If Kelce plays through the end of his contract, Gray will be signed for two seasons beyond that.
Gray is the second player from Kansas City’s 2021 draft class who has agreed to an extension. Two weeks ago, center Creed Humphrey reached agreement on a four-year, $72 million extension that made him the highest-paid at his position in the NFL.
