Tree agent tight end Izaiah Gathings, formerly of the Kansas City Chiefs, is signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers following a successful tryout with the team, according to KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson on May 29.
Gathings, 23, entered the NFL undrafted out of Middle Tennessee in 2023. After being a wide receiver in college, Gathings, who stands at 6-foot-4 and weighs 225 pounds, converted to tight end at the start of his NFL journey and signed with the Chiefs in July 2023.
After being cut by the Chiefs before the start of the 2023 regular season, Gathings rejoined the team via the practice squad in December. He remained with the Chiefs during their recent Super Bowl run and then signed a reserve/future deal with Kansas City. He was then waived by the team on May 4.
Gathings joins a tight end room in Pittsburgh that includes Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington, Connor Heyward, Mycole Pruitt, and Rodney
Williams.
Chiefs Aren’t Phased by Rigorous 2024 Schedule
The Chiefs’ 2024 regular season schedule includes games on Black Friday, Christmas, and every day of the week except for Tuesday. They also have a very early bye week, which will be in Week 6. So, it’s safe to say that Kansas City has one of the more difficult schedules among all 32 NFL teams purely based on the days some of their games land on and the fact that their bye week is in mid-October.
Last season, the Chiefs lost four out of their last eight regular season games, with the last one happening on Christmas Day against the division-rival Las Vegas Raiders. Though the team was able to right the ship on their way to a second-straight Super Bowl title, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes wants the team to finish the upcoming regular season stronger than they did last season.
“I feel like our schedule has gotten crazier and crazier every single year. It’s just about preparing for the week ahead of you,” Mahomes said of the Chiefs’ 2024 schedule during his press conference on May 22. “We know that we’re going to have a lot of primetime games. We’ve built up the equity to be able to be in those games. Now it’s about how can we find a way to be better than we were last year at the end of the season, learn from our mistakes from last year, try to motivate ourselves to get ourselves healthier faster and go out there and win those games because there’s a lot of great football teams we play at the end there.”
Big Red Not Phased By ‘Unique’ 2024 Schedule
Speaking to the media on the same day as Mahomes, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid had a “bring it on” attitude when asked about the team’s upcoming schedule.
“It’s the first time in my career that this has happened, it’s unique and you know how we are, we don’t really care,” Reid said. “They can give us a Tuesday game if they want, and we’ll be okay there, too. We work through it, we’ll play anybody, anywhere, whatever they want to do. We’re on board.”
