Brett Veach's description of Chiefs' fourth-round draft pick sounds all too familiar

It's no secret that the Kansas City Chiefs brass loves offensive players with high athletic upside.

One example of that is 2024 fourth-round draft pick tight end Jared Wiley. The Chiefs will try to develop Wiley into yet another weapon for quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Wiley is physically imposing at 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds and possesses high quality receiving skills.

Here's what Chiefs GM Brett Veach had to say when he was asked about what intrigued him about Wiley.

"Every now and then, especially with where we pick in the draft, the tight ends – it just seems to me the last few years it’s harder to find tight ends in the draft than it had been in the past," Veach said. "I think you do get a chance – depending on where you pick – to select a receiving tight end or a blocking tight end, but these combo tight ends are hard to find. I think the thing that intrigued us about (Jared) Wiley is the fact that he is a big kid, a former quarterback, is athletic, can run, a guy that can certainly hold up in line and will get better as a blocker, can block, will block and then that receiving skillset he has. I think it’s unique to add a true combo tight end on this roster so certainly excited about that prospect there. We had guys in the past like Blake Bell and some other guys down the line. I just think Travis (Kelce) is the best at what he does, and Noah Gray has done some really outstanding stuff for us the last few years. Noah plays a ton of reps on special teams. Having another big body, (to) be interchangeable with those two players is really important for us.”

It certainly seems as though Veach and his team are taking a similar approach as the Chiefs did when they drafted Kelce back in 2013. Like Wiley, Kelce was also a former quarterback who possessed raw but impressive athletic traits. The pair also have almost the exact same measurables, with Wiley having about an inch on Kelce height wise. They even clocked in at the same 40-yard dash time at 4.6 seconds.

Does all this mean that Wiley is the next Travis Kelce? It would be egregious to say that not only because Wiley hasn't even played in an NFL game yet, but also because he's a different style of player than Kelce. Wiley doesn't produce many yards after the catch and doesn't have the crafty footwork that Kelce does.

Like many traditional tight ends, Wiley utilizes his size to win up top and make contested catches, which isn't something Kelce does too often. All of that being said, Wiley could learn some things as he embarks on becoming Kelce's understudy. If Wiley can blend what he already does well with some things that he picks up from Kelce's game, he's going to make a big impact in the NFL.