KC Chiefs are set at tight end, but still need a reliable backup

Signing Travis Kelce to an extension ensures that the KC Chiefs have their star tight end for the next six years. What about the backup spot though?

Backup tight end hasn’t been a strength for the Kansas City Chiefs since early on in Travis Kelce‘s NFL career.

Anthony Fasano was the starting tight end for the Chiefs in Kelce’s rookie season (he barely played that season due to an injury) and was also the last viable TE2 the Chiefs have had since Kelce’s been on board.

After Fasano left, the Chiefs kept trying to convince themselves that Demetrius Harris was the answer behind Kelce. Harris kept the TE2 job for far too long and became notorious for dropping key passes.

When the Demetrius Harris experiment ended, Blake Bell was brought in as the backup tight end and finished his lone season as a Chief with just eight catches for 67 yards. He had a touchdown in the playoffs, but that was it for the former Oklahoma Sooner during his time in Kansas City.

With Travis Kelce locked up for the foreseeable future, it’s important for the KC Chiefs to not ignore the backup tight end position.

Brett Veach made strides to improving the position this offseason with the addition of Ricky Seals-Jones, but the season hasn’t begun yet so we’re unsure as to what Seals-Jones will end up providing in 2020.

Even if Seals-Jones performs well, he’s signed to just a one-year deal. The Chiefs need to make sure finding a backup tight end becomes a priority for the 2021 season and beyond. Whether they do that through the draft or re-sign Seals-Jones if he performs well is up to them, but Kansas City can’t keep banking on Kelce to stay healthy every single season.

With Kelce being in his 30s now and his contract taking him through his age 36/37 season, it’ll be important to have viable depth behind him. Some teams like to have two starting tight ends and that could be something worth exploring for this already explosive and unstoppable offense.

The easiest thing would be to just bring back Ricky Seals-Jones for next year, but he has to earn that first. If he plays well, chances are another team will be willing to pay him quite a bit to pry him away from the Chiefs.

Should that happen, targeting a backup tight end in the middle to late rounds of the 2021 NFL Draft wouldn’t be a bad idea. Having Travis Kelce around for the next six years is huge for this team, especially when it comes to building a dynasty, but having depth behind him is equally important because the team needs to be insured should Kelce miss an extended period of time.

What would be your ideal situation behind Travis Kelce on the depth chart?