Slimmed down Tyler Bray still shows promise for the Kansas City Chiefs

The thing about Tyler Bray is, anything he does that's frustrating can quickly be negated by a beautiful pass from the pocket. And I mean beautiful. You know what I'm talking about if you've seen him hit one in training camp. The promise hasn't left for me.

A perfect example of this came in the Kansas City Chiefs 41-39 win in the preseason opener against the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday night.

On one play, Bray stepped up in the pocket with his 6'6 frame and fired a pass under pressure to Demetrius Harris for a 30-yard gain. With a young offensive line, it's nice to have someone who can navigate their way through the pocket.

On the next play, however, Bray fumbled and turned it over.

Like Alex Smith would do a few minutes later down the hall, Bray took the blame for the fumble, telling me it was his fault for holding onto the ball too long.

Like I said though, the promise remains there.

Earlier this week Chiefs coach Andy Reid told announcer Paul Burmeister that Bray may have been the most improved player at Chiefs training camp. This doesn't seem like an accident; Bray has worked at this.

Last year Bray was the third quarterback on the Chiefs depth chart, mostly an afterthought when it came to the game day roster. It was similar during practice. You just don't get many reps as a third team quarterback when you have to prep the other two. So with not as much going on, he put on some weight.

The freshman 15? I asked.

"The rookie 15," Bray said. "I put on a rookie 20."

Bray says he spent this offseason getting right. He lost a "bunch of weight" and kept studying the playbook to understand the ins and outs of all the protections he sees. He would throw with his cousin or his brother at home. Anytime he had the chance, he was doing something to stay in shape.

Obviously, this is still just the preseason. Alex Smith is the entrenched starter and all indications are that Chase Daniel is ahead of both Bray and Aaron Murray, who didn't throw a pass on Thursday night.

"The 3s and 4s, we're just working and trying to put a game on film, get some plays in," Bray said. "We're out there working. If the line blocks well like they did tonight, the running backs are going to look good and eventually we'll look good."

Even without a clean path to the field, developing a quarterback is never a bad thing. I'm anxious to see if Bray can continue what Andy Reid has said is a good start to the season.