Jhelum Mehta
The Travis Kelce era for the Kansas City Chiefs is likely near its end. For the first time in a decade, KC missed the playoffs, stumbling to a 7-9-1 finish. At 36, Kelce was still productive, as the future Hall of Famer led the team with 76 grabs, 851 yards, and five scores. Locking in Pro Bowl honors for an 11th time.
That said, Father Time is lurking, and Kelce took a minute this offseason to weigh his future, especially with his two-year, $34.25 million deal expiring. In classic Kelce fashion, he ran it back with the Chiefs, inking a one-year, $12 million deal to gear up for Year 14 in Arrowhead.
But let’s be real, even with Kelce back in the huddle, the Chiefs are clearly scouting for the next mismatch nightmare at tight end. With that in mind, here are five tight ends KC should have circled on their draft board next month.
Joe Royer, Cincinnati
Joe Royer didn’t just follow Kelce’s footsteps at Cincinnati Bearcats football—he cleared ‘em. He broke Kelce’s TE reception record with 50 grabs (Kelce had 45), which is already going to have the Kansas City Chiefs front office raising eyebrows. Across his career, Royer stacked 79 catches, nearly 1,000 yards, and four scores—numbers that scream “QB-friendly” in every sense.
Now plug that into Patrick Mahomes’ world. This offense runs on chaos—off-script plays, backyard football, trust throws—and Royer’s tape shows he can thrive in that exact environment. Building chemistry with Mahomes isn’t instant, but once that trust clicks? That QB-TE connection could get scary fast.
Oscar Delp, Georgia
Oscar Delp isn’t just another name on the board—he’s a legit mismatch weapon waiting to be unlocked. At 6’5”, the Georgia Bulldogs football product came in as a four-star blue-chip (No. 1 TE, No. 51 overall per 247Sports), with offers from powerhouse programs like Florida, Michigan, and Alabama before locking in with Kirby Smart in Athens. Early on, he was stuck behind generational talent Brock Bowers—no shame in riding shotgun there.
But once Bowers bounced to the league, Delp stepped into TE1 reps in 2024 and showed flashes of why he was so highly touted. Over his career, he put up 70 catches for 854 yards and nine TDs—solid production in a system that doesn’t exactly force-feed tight ends.
Max Klare, Ohio State
Max Klare’s not your chain-moving, sit-in-zone type. He’s got legit vertical juice. Where Kelce wins with surgical precision and feel, Klare brings chunk plays and explosive upside—something KC’s gonna need more of as TE1 starts pacing himself deeper into his 30s.
The production isn’t eye-popping (30+ catches, 400+ yards, 3 TDs), but the tape? That’s where it hits. He’s money when the play breaks down—finding space late in the down, turning upfield, and attacking open grass instead of just settling into soft spots. That’s backyard football DNA, and it pairs perfectly with Patrick Mahomes’ off-script magic.
Michael Trigg, Baylor
Michael Trigg might be the closest thing to a “modern Kelce bet” in this class—but not in the way people usually frame it. We’re not just talking traits—we’re talking production. Trigg stacked 50 catches for 694 yards and 4 TDs in his breakout year at Baylor Bears football, and across stops at USC, Ole Miss, and Baylor, he’s logged 108+ receptions. That’s legit volume for a TE, not just flashes.
Trigg is basically a big slot. He’s at his best detached from the line, working the middle of the field, hunting mismatches on linebackers and safeties. That’s exactly how the Kansas City Chiefs weaponize Kelce in Andy Reid’s scheme.
Sam Roush, Stanford
If you’re talking TE pipelines, Stanford Cardinal football is basically TE University—right up there with Iowa Hawkeyes football and Notre Dame Fighting Irish football. And this year? Same factory, new product. Enter Sam Roush.
At 6’6”, 267 lbs, Roush is one of the nastiest true in-line “Y” tight ends in this class. The Nashville native has been living in the trenches at Stanford—setting edges, moving bodies, and doing all the dirty work that doesn’t always show up on the stat sheet.
But don’t box him in as just a sixth lineman. He’s got sneaky upside as a receiver too—30+ catches, 300+ yards, and 3+ TDs, with flashes as a seam stretcher and enough athletic juice to build out a bigger route tree at the next level.
