Chiefs are ideal environment for Tyler Bray to mature
By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star
Something will have gone terribly wrong in the Chiefs’ preseason that begins Friday night if Tyler Bray does not come out of it as the No. 3 quarterback. Actually, something will have gone wrong with the Chiefs’ evaluations if Bray isn’t a backup or even a starter in the future — whether it’s in Kansas City or somewhere else.
Internally, Bray has impressed the Chiefs’ decision makers as much as anyone in training camp. Bray is here, officially, as an undrafted free agent, but there has never been much doubt about his talent.
He is 6 feet 6 with the strongest arm of any Chiefs quarterback in years, the kind of physical gifts that NFL teams never let pass through the draft unless, well, let him tell it.
“I have to prove my maturity,” Bray says. “Lots of doubts about my maturity coming out of college, which I knew I had to fix. I’m just trying to be a man in football. I mean, not the man, but, just, be a man. Grow up. Know what you have to do. Study the playbook. It’s not about having fun anymore, it’s a job now. But you can have fun on the field.”
NFL preseasons are largely about finding time for backups and seeing what young players can do, which makes this, perhaps, the most important four-game stretch of Bray’s life.
He could’ve returned to Tennessee for his senior year to diminish the questions about his character, which have followed him for everything from throwing beer bottles and golf balls off his apartment balcony to accusations of selfishness and a general lack of leadership that led to his being benched in the second quarter of the Vanderbilt game last season.
Instead, Bray entered the draft and watched 11 quarterbacks get selected without his name being called. It’s worth noting that even those who thought Bray should’ve played another year in college thought he would be drafted, meaning there were likely some things in the evaluation process that lowered his stock even more.
The Chiefs considered drafting Bray, and were surprised he slipped all the way through. Even with the trade for Alex Smith and a three-year, $10 million contract for backup Chase Daniel, one of the Chiefs’ first phone calls after the draft was to Bray.
This is partly because incumbent No. 3 Ricky Stanzi has yet to show much promise, and partly because NFL teams never feel like they have enough quarterbacks.
But most of it is that Bray has real talent — NFL starter talent — and the Chiefs think they have the best environment to bring it out.
That makes this a real test, not just for Bray but also the Chiefs.
You can see where the Chiefs get their confidence. Andy Reid’s success in Philadelphia was built in large part on bringing out the best in his quarterbacks. Donovan McNabb became one of the league’s best. Michael Vick became an MVP candidate and an eight-figure earner again with Reid’s help. Kevin Kolb showed enough that the Cardinals traded and made him their No. 1 quarterback two years ago.
And it’s not just Reid, or even Reid and offensive coordinator Doug Pederson, who came along from Philadelphia. Smith has the reputation as one of the game’s brightest players and among the hardest workers. Daniel hasn’t taken a meaningful snap but has the same reputation for diligent work.
If Bray can’t make it here, the thinking goes, then there might not be a spot in the league for him.
It would take Bray leaving the Chiefs to find out for sure, so for now the focus is on what he can do here. And so far, every indication is positive.
In talking about what they’ve put on Bray, Reid describes it like “throwing a big book of French” at someone who doesn’t speak the language. Bray isn’t fluent, but is retaining bigger chunks than may have been expected.
More to the point, he’s putting in the work. Showing the right attitude, and attention. A positive force in the quarterbacks’ meetings.
In as much as you can judge early training camp, Bray has shown enough arm to make throws Smith and Daniel can’t — or, at the very least, enough gumption to try throws Smith and Daniel won’t.
Bray describes himself as “definitely not a scrambler,” but a tall pocket passer who sees the field wants to “either go deep or check it down.” Arm strength is the most overrated part of NFL quarterbacking, but it is a part, and Bray’s spot on the depth chart means he has time to work on the rest.
The work includes managing the sheer size of the playbook. Bray guesses there are 200 to 300 different plays, with different formations and motions. In college, he was in a no-huddle offense where the coaches relayed much of the information directly to receivers and running backs.
With the Chiefs, it all goes through the quarterback, so Bray needs to remember play calls up to 14 words long. Fourteen words, for one play, out of a few hundred.
I ask Bray if he could give me the example of a long play call.
He smiles.
“Definitely can’t give you that,” Bray says. “Definitely would get in trouble for that.”
He’s had enough trouble. He’s trying to leave that in the past.