KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Noah Gray snapped the ball to punter Matt Araiza on Harrison Butker’s 56-yard field goal late in the second quarter Saturday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
It was a first in Gray’s football career at any level.
“Sometimes, we mess around during walk-throughs and I’ll just snap a couple times,” Gray said.
But Gray said he’d never long snapped in a game before — not in youth leagues, high school or at Duke — and “got no reps on it at training camp.”
That changed when Gray, who is the Kansas City Chiefs’ second-string tight end, was pressed into action after long snapper James Winchester suffered a shoulder injury.
“I have no idea,” Gray said when asked how coaches picked him for the job. “It happened so fast. I was just hanging out on the sideline and they just came up to me and said, ‘Hey, can you snap?’ and I said, ‘Sure, I’ll go try.’”
Fellow tight end Travis Kelce has served as the backup long snapper in the past.
“Just this past week, Travis got a couple reps with me on the side and we joked that was his couple reps for the year.”
But Kelce’s day had ended after the second possession midway through the first quarter.
“He was down and I just think they needed a guy to step in until James got back,” Gray said.
That left Gray to handle long-snapping duties in Winchester’s absence. He also snapped on a punt late in the second quarter before Winchester returned after halftime.
“Noah came out of nowhere and came in — in a game — and did his job,” Winchester said. “Props to him.”
Gray credited Araiza, Butker and Assistant Equipment Manager Jay White for getting him up to speed on the sideline.
“They did a great job coaching me up on it then we went out there and had some fun with it,” Gray said.
White, a former punter at Missouri Western State University, particularly relished the role.
“Jay’s always ready when called upon,” Winchester said. “He was rolling. He’s our assistant to the assistant special teams coach, so he’s our guy. Jay’s a stud. He knows what he’s talking about. He’s a punting guru, and we’re thankful to have Jay.”
White gave Gray some pointers on the proper technique.
“I wasn’t too worried about velocity, just trying to get it to Matt’s hands,” Gray said. “... It was a lot of fun, definitely nerve-racking, because I’ve never done it and to do it in the NFL is definitely not easy.”
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