FORT WORTH, Texas -- There may not be a better NFL landing spot for a rookie tight end than the back-to-back Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs given the opportunity to team up with three-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes and nine-time Pro Bowl tight end Travis Kelce.
Rookie tight end Jared Wiley, Kansas City's first of two fourth-round picks (131st overall) in the 2024 NFL Draft out of TCU, is fired up to join the defending Super Bowl champions. He is the first tight end the Chiefs have drafted since taking backup Noah Gray in the fifth round (162nd overall) of the 2021 NFL Draft. Gray enters the final season of his rookie deal in 2024.
"About a million things were going through my mind honestly," Wiley said Tuesday when asked what he was thinking when the Chiefs drafted him. "What a place to be though. Kansas City is the powerhouse of the NFL. One of the top powerhouses in all the sports right now. To be able to go there and just learn their culture and be able to be in that winning environment, I think it's going to be really fun for me."
One of the top things on the rookie Horned Frog's NFL to-do list is simple: take notes on everything Kelce does that has allowed him to lead tight ends all time in receiving yards per game (71.2), 1,000-yard seasons (seven) and 100-yard receiving games (37).
"It's going be really fun. I can't wait to just be a sponge and just be able to absorb as much information as I possibly can," Wiley said. "Travis has done a really good job at doing what he does, and he's done it for a really long time. Everybody talks about the plays that he makes and all that, but I don't see a lot of people talking about the fact that he's in like Year 12, Year 13 [2024 will be his 12th NFL season]. That's a long time in the NFL. I'm really happy to learn the productivity that he has put into his career, but I'm also excited to learn about just how he does his day to day stuff, how he takes care of his body and his mind where he is able to play this game for so long."
Kelce, who turns 35 on Oct. 5, guaranteed he will remain with the Chiefs for the next two seasons after reworking his contract to become the NFL's highest-paid tight end (two years, $34.25 million --- $17.125 average per year), which led to Wiley breathing a sigh of relief knowing he'll have the opportunity to learn under Kelce for at least the next two seasons.
"Him signing that extension, there's probably nobody that was more excited than me," Wiley said. "Just being able to have a little bit more time with him to just learn under him and see what he does every day. That's, in my opinion, the best tight end really to ever play the game, honestly. I know that it might take a couple of years for me to even start kind of scratching the surface to be on that level. So the fact that I now can just kind of sit back and just be like 'Ok how can I find my way on the field in Year One?' Ok, Year One's done. Ok. Now, how can I start transitioning my game to something else?' That was a really big deal for me."
His two seasons at TCU in 2022 and 2023 were an especially big deal for Wiley, a player who fought to receive opportunities in the passing game his first three years of college football at the University of Texas. He became a key contributor to the Horned Frogs' 2022 national runner-up season and a featured target in 2023.
"There's a lot I'm taking away [from my time at TCU]," Wiley said. "I got my confidence as a player back. On the field stuff, my confidence skyrocketed whenever I was there. I shout out the coaches for that. They did a good job helping me just kind of figuring out that aspect of the game out again. Then, everything else just kind of came with it. My reps went up, my catches went up and any other stat that I had went up. So I'm just super grateful to be able to play somewhere like TCU. ... They're definitely the reason I'm here right now."
Jared Wiley collegiate career
| Texas (2019-2021) | TCU (2022-2023) | |
|---|---|---|
Games played | 32 | 27 |
Receptions | 19 | 71 |
Receiving yards | 248 | 765 |
Receiving TD | 3 | 12 |
Wiley's numbers doubled in just about every critical receiving metric his second season with the Horned Frogs, following former offensive coordinator Garrett Riley's departure to Clemson and the arrival of current OC Kendal Briles. Riley's TCU offensive utilized 10 personnel (one running back, no tight ends and four wide receivers) on 43.4% of offensive plays and 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end and three wide receivers) on 34.9% of offensive plays in 2022. Briles' 2023 attack lined up in 11 personnel routinely, 82.3% of the time, providing many more opportunities for Wiley.
"This past year, Coach Briles and our entire staff did a really good job of getting me involved," Wiley said. "It took a couple of games, but I couldn't be happier with the year that I had this past year."
Jared Wiley at TCU
| 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|
11 personnel rate (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR) | 34.9% | 82.3% |
Receptions | 24 | 47 |
Receiving yards | 245 | 520 |
Receiving TD | 4 | 8 |
"Incredibly talented and can do everything: put his hand in the dirt and split him out," Briles said at the Big 12 Pro Day back in March. "He's a great mismatch for linebackers safeties and just so willing to learn and just a great team guy. It wasn't about him at all. It's about whatever he can do to help us offensively and, and the entire team. So just a very selfless individual. So it's just a pleasure for me to be able to work with him."
TE Jared Wiley against Baylor. He had 7 catches for 178 yds and 2 TDs. #Chiefs pic.twitter.com/WCM71DK3R9
— Nick Jacobs (@Jacobs71) May 2, 2024
The Horned Frogs' red zone passing game was certainly about Wiley: his 12 receiving touchdowns at TCU since 2022 are the most on the team in that span with nine coming in the red zone. Wiley's nine red zone scores in that span are tied for the fourth-most among all college tight ends.
"Just be bigger than they are," Wiley said of his success inside the 20. "Once you get down there, there's going to be a lot of safeties or nickels, maybe some corners every now and then, but a lot of those guys are going to be a lot lighter than you and a lot smaller than you. So you have to go be big. Last year, I was 6'6 and 262 pounds. I'm not going to let somebody who's a lot smaller than me bully me in the red zone."
Now, he'll have a chance to work the red area while catching passes from the NFL's top quarterback in Mahomes. His 153 red zone touchdown passes since becoming the Chiefs' starting quarterback in 2018 are the most in the NFL, 34 scores ahead of the next closest quarterback -- Russell Wilson (119).
"I'm excited for the opportunity. There's only 32 teams in the NFL, and he's quarterback one out of 32," Wiley said. "So just to be able to share the field him and pick his brain and see what he wants, I'm super excited to do that. It's all about just trying to gain his trust and gain the trust of the coaching staff. I just have to go out there every day and just kind of prove myself to be the tight end and the player that I know that I can be."
On top of learning head coach Andy Reid's playbook, Wiley will work on becoming a Swiftie as he claims to have never heard a song by the team's superfan, pop star Taylor Swift, who is dating Kelce.
"I guess I better be one now," Wiley said of his Taylor Swift fandom. "I'm not going to sit here and lie. I've probably never heard one of her songs or anything like that, but I think it's the coolest thing ever that she's at the games. She just attracts more fans and more publicity to the team."
Perhaps one day down the road, Wiley's play on the field could also garner excitement for the Chiefs, something his soon-to-be mentor in Kelce knows all about.
