Willie Gay: What Will His Role Be In Contract Year?

Embed from Getty Images
Willie Gay is entering a fascinating contract year with the Kansas City Chiefs. Overall, the former second-round pick from 2020 has had some flashes in Kansas City. The Chiefs have seen him deal with a few challenging factors, though. Finding more consistency, battling injuries and off-field situations have led to certain plateaus for the Mississippi State product. When he gets rolling on the field, Gay is able to add athleticism, slight versatility and infectious energy.

Over the last couple of offseasons, the Chiefs have added a new linebacker to the defense. No one will be above Nick Bolton on the depth chart. Elsewhere, Kansas City has drafted Leo Chenal and signed Drue Tranquill over the last two years. You always want to be stocked with adequate depth. However, it has never seemed to be an opportunistic situation for Willie Gay.

What will his role ultimately be in a contract year during 2023? Is his play style going to be easily replaced by someone else who is currently on the Chiefs roster? Let’s kick it off.

Will Gay Play Second Fiddle To Tranquill?

Certainly, the linebacker spot was not necessarily a position of need for the Chiefs during this offseason. That is why it was a rather intriguing signing for Kansas City to add the aforementioned Drue Tranquill. Immediately, this placed some added doubt around the status of Willie Gay. Tranquill has only continued to improve and become more comfortable over the last couple of years.

While with the division rival Los Angeles Chargers, Tranquill was trusted to make smart reads in space and make urgent plays in the outside edges of the field. On top of that, the coverage ability of Tranquill was something that became even more crucial to the Chargers defense. So when Kansas City added the former LA defender, it seemed like they were adding someone who can play to the same threshold of Willie Gay. Yet, there could be an argument in the favor of Tranquill, when it comes to serving multiple roles and doing it well.

The Chiefs signed Drue Tranquill to a contract that makes it appear like he will receive significant defensive snaps. You also have to add in the fact that Kansas City will take Willie Gay off of the field in some of the tightest of moments. It may not be all that surprising to see Gay play second fiddle to Tranquill, as a result.

Has Willie’s Play Style Been Minimized In Kansas City?

Having the mix of athleticism, versatility and tenacity that Willie Gay offers is certainly a plus. But by no means, this defender has not ever been able to put his abilities fully together. Could you argue that this may be due to his surroundings within the Chiefs defense? The way Kansas City is structured, you could argue that this is the case, from the perspective of Gay.

It is not difficult to see that Willie Gay has been surrounded by other linebackers who offer little to nothing in coverage. At least in the case of Bolton, his range and short area quickness are more of a boost than what Anthony Hitchens offered. Hitchens was the MIKE linebacker during Gay’s first two seasons. In the end, it always felt like part of the early struggles from Willie Gay were due to being placed in a narrow, specific role.

That is not to say that this was the only reason for Gay having some hiccups. Simply put, Kansas City has not always placed this linebacker in the best positions to succeed. And now that the Chiefs have added more multi-faceted skill sets to the linebacker room, there is a belief that the play style of Willie Gay has been minimized.

Decision On Willie Gay May Have Already Been Made

Given how the Chiefs have utilized Willie Gay in the past couple of years, it appears that his role could decrease a little more in 2023. If that indeed happens, we could still see him be impactful in obvious passing situations. For example, being able to cover the flats and the shallow areas are items that he could cash in on in a compelling contract year.

At the same time, Kansas City may have already made a decision on Willie Gay before the upcoming campaign. If they believe that Chenal will take another step and they can add a young linebacker next year, the Chiefs may be thinking about replacing Gay. If that is the case, then Kansas City will be taking a risk with adding more speed on the field, perhaps with a greater focus on the defensive backs. Willie Gay is just caught in a challenging time for this up-and-coming Kansas City defense. All told, the Chiefs may be looking at Gay as strictly a depth player. That decision may stand to be best for both sides, to boot.

Be on the lookout for more FPC Chiefs articles and analysis in the coming days. For more great sports and NFL content, stay tuned to Full Press Coverage.

– Braden Holecek is the Kansas City Chiefs managing editor for Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @ebearcat9//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Follow @FPC_Chiefs//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js and Facebook.