The Kansas City Chiefs had a few intriguing roster battles going into the regular season. Overall, most of the spots that involved competition were depth roles. That included the tight end spot behind Travis Kelce.

We knew Noah Gray would be a trusted secondary piece. However, the TE3 spot was nowhere near secure entering training camp. Jared Wiley was hoping to come back strong after last year’s season-ending injury. However, it was Robert Tonyan who was creating tremendous buzz for himself during training camp.

Tonyan was far removed from his exciting Green Bay days. Stops in Chicago and Minnesota after leaving the Packers were mostly empty. But when training camp and the preseason rolled around, Robert Tonyan looked like he could be the next solid depth tight end for the Chiefs.

Robert Tonyan earned preseason buzz, but the Chiefs have yet to use him meaningfully.

He made some catches turn into chunk gains after the catch. Additionally, Tonyan has the strength and size that Kansas City could potentially lean on as a blocker. Little did we know that blocking ability would be the main source of playing time for Tonyan so far in the regular season.

Tonyan has been given just 35 offensive snaps through the first four games. That is good enough for only 13 percent of the Chiefs’ offensive reps. His numbers in the passing game? Those are all goose eggs. Not a single target has even come Tonyan’s way.

The Chiefs do not use multiple tight end sets as much as some teams in the NFL. Yet, Kansas City had found success with them in parts of the last few seasons. That is why the appeal of Robert Tonyan became easy to imagine. His chances could have been meaningful in the red zone, for example. Instead, he is still waiting for any opportunity as a pass catcher.

The Chiefs are also going to be getting some fresh production back into the lineup soon. With Rashee Rice only having to serve a couple more games of his suspension, the target share will be divided even more. We saw Kansas City have a magnificent day with Xavier Worthy returning to face the Baltimore Ravens. With Worthy, Rice, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton, and Travis Kelce producing already, will we even see Robert Tonyan get his chance?

If the preseason hype does not materialize into any meaningful production, the decision to keep Tonyan on the roster becomes a bit more puzzling.