Getty New Kansas City Chiefs tight end Irv Smith Jr. may not survive the roster cutdown.
As usual, making the Kansas City Chiefs’ 53-man roster will be no easy feat in 2024. The back-to-back Super Bowl champions are stacked in most areas and with another new draft class entering the fold, cuts will be more difficult than ever this summer.
So difficult that both Chiefs Digest beat reporter Matt Derrick and KSHB41 media member Nick Jacobs both don’t see veteran tight end Irv Smith Jr. as a guarantee to make the roster despite signing earlier this spring.
During the June 23 episode of their “41 is the Mic” podcast, Derrick and Jacobs broke down each positional battle ahead of training camp. At tight end, Derrick revealed that he believes Smith won’t make the cut.
“There was a connection, to me, between receiver and tight end,” Derrick explained. “Because when I added a seventh receiver, it meant I couldn’t keep four tight ends [on the 53-man roster]. So, I have three tight ends.”
The veteran beat writer went on to reveal his prediction for those three TEs making the team, naming Travis Kelce, rookie Jared Wiley and Noah Gray. He then turned things over to Jacobs.
“Yeah, you’re spot on with the first three,” his KC media colleague agreed. Adding later that he doesn’t have Smith as a “lock” to survive the cutdown at this time either.
“I just, I don’t know what they’re going to do from a running back perspective — are they keeping four or are they keeping five? Receiver wise, they keeping five or six or seven? And I think that determines what they do at tight end,” Jacobs reasoned.
Continuing: “Irv Smith is more than capable of making the roster and being the fourth guy. It’s just a matter of — where do the numbers [stack up at each position]?”
Is Jared Wiley Ahead of Noah Gray on Chiefs Depth Chart?
The other interesting tidbit from this segment discussed Kelce’s top backup role. Both Derrick and Jacobs seemed to agree that Wiley will be the TE2 when all is said and done, rather than Gray.
“Wiley may not be the guy that gets a ton of the reps early on in training camp — and they may let him get comfortable and everything — but I think once they’re well into the season, I think Wiley is going to have a steady rise the entire time,” Jacobs predicted. Attributing this opinion to both camp observations and the way Kelce praised the rookie at minicamp.
“I think Wiley is just a different type of tight end than what they’ve had there,” Jacobs went on. “To where he’s the best of both worlds in terms of size and athletic ability. And I just don’t think the Chiefs have had a tight end like him since Travis has been here.”
“[With] Wiley, they don’t have to do the learning curve of development,” he concluded. “It’s just more about him getting comfortable in the offense and learning from Kelce and getting comfortable where with [Patrick] Mahomes wants to put the football.”
The fourth-round tight end has earned high praise all spring, so the latest from Derrick and Jacobs is nothing new.
Releasing Irv Smith Offers Chiefs Minor Cap Relief in 2024
Smith only signed a one-year, prove-it contract with KC. The base salary was $1.125 million according to Over the Cap, and the cap hit is $1.152 million and change.
That’s a decent amount for a TE4, and perhaps that factors into the Chiefs’ eventual decision. The front office can save $768,500 by parting ways with Smith, and every little bit matters when you’re competing for an NFL title.
With Kelce and Wiley both guaranteed to make the roster and Gray very likely to as well — barring some sort of trade — Smith must prove he brings something worthwhile to the table. Whether that’s on offense or special teams.
If not, he’ll be released, and Kansas City can chalk up the minor $384,000 dead cap charge as the price of being well-prepared for the draft.