Willie Gay Jr. is a career quality starter — a linebacker whose body of work places Gay in the top quarter of all players at the position historically. The Knox model values sustained contribution over flash, and Gay's career arc reflects exactly that kind of reliable professional-grade performance.

LBMIA#40ACT

Willie Gay Jr.

Top 24% all-time linebackersReliable Starter

Height6'1"

Weight246 lb

BornFeb 15, 1998

Age28

CollegeMississippi State See College Stats

ConferenceSoutheastern

Rookie yr2020

Draft2020 · Rd 2, Pick 63 · KC

Archetype Intelligence

Reliable StarterExplore archetypes →

A linebacker with a top 30% among starters — the kind of consistent contributor every roster needs. Solid availability (excellent availability over their career) added to their value.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 44 · #2234 · Above Average

Worth 44 points of value above a freely-available replacement linebacker — top 49% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 4 of 6 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +11 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

4 cleared

2 replaced

Beat replacement (adds to VORP) Below it — adds 0, never a debit

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+11

Avg surplus

peak +19

4 seasons × ~11 surplus ≈ VORP 44

Combined Season Grid

The full season-by-season grids, joined on one timeline. Every selected stat family stays visible at once—no tab hopping.

3 grids split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Defense													Snap Counts						Advanced Defense & Coverage (2018+)
Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty	Off	Off%	Def	Def%	ST	ST%	Tgt	Cmp	Cmp%	RateAll	ADOT	Prss	Hrry	QBKD	Bltz	MissTkl	Miss%
2020	—	KC	13	—	37	27	10	3	1	1.0	5.0	0	3	1	—	0	0	—	0.0%	267	26.0%	241	54.6%	15	13	0.9	90.0	2.9	2	1	0	19	6	0.1
2021	—	KC	12	—	44	22	22	1	1	0.5	2.5	2	4	0	—	0	0	—	0.0%	437	56.9%	28	18.8%	26	23	0.9	87.0	3.4	4	3	0	29	5	0.1
2022	—	KC	13	—	79	42	37	9	4	2.5	15.5	1	8	0	1	1	0	—	0.0%	608	70.1%	5	4.3%	52	42	0.8	92.1	2.1	4	0	1	30	9	0.1
2023	—	KC	16	—	56	42	14	4	3	1.0	8.0	1	4	1	3	0	0	—	0.0%	624	62.1%	8	8.0%	29	22	0.8	76.4	2.4	5	2	2	37	4	0.1
2024	—	NO	11	—	21	15	6	2	1	2.0	5.0	0	3	1	2	0	0	—	0.0%	277	31.1%	86	27.1%	10	5	0.5	107.9	2.0	3	1	0	14	3	0.1
2025	—	MIA	9	—	20	10	10	3	2	2.0	7.0	0	2	0	—	0	0	—	0.0%	131	14.2%	127	30.1%	11	7	0.6	94.1	4.4	2	0	0	12	0	0.0
Career		—	74	—	257	158	99	22	12	9.0	43.0	4	24	3	6	1	0	—	0.0%	2,344	43.4%	495	23.8%	143	112	—	—	—	20	7	3	141	27	—

Defense

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	VAL
2020	22	KC	13	0*	37	27	10	3	1	1.0	5.0	0	3	1	—	0	6.1
2021	23	KC	12	7*	44	22	22	1	1	0.5	2.5	2	4	0	—	0	7.1
2022	24	KC	13	9*	79	42	37	9	4	2.5	15.5	1	8	0	1	1	9.3
2023	25	KC	16	10*	56	42	14	4	3	1.0	8.0	1	4	1	3	0	8.2
2024	26	NO	11	0*	21	15	6	2	1	2.0	5.0	0	3	1	2	0	4.9
2025	27	MIA	9	0*	20	10	10	3	2	2.0	7.0	0	2	0	—	0	4.5
Career			74	26*	257	158	99	22	12	—	—	4	24	3	6	1	40.1

* GS not available from free sources — SG* estimated from snap share (nflverse 2012+)

Snap Counts

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Off	Off%	Def	Def%	ST	ST%
2020	22	KC	16	0*	—	0.0%	267	26.0%	241	54.6%
2021	23	KC	12	7*	—	0.0%	437	56.9%	28	18.8%
2022	24	KC	13	9*	—	0.0%	608	70.1%	5	4.3%
2023	25	KC	16	10*	—	0.0%	624	62.1%	8	8.0%
2024	26	NO	15	0*	—	0.0%	277	31.1%	86	27.1%
2025	27	MIA	17	0*	—	0.0%	131	14.2%	127	30.1%
Career			89	26*	—	—	2,344	—	495	—

* GS not available from free sources — SG* estimated from snap share (nflverse 2012+)

Advanced Defense & Coverage (2018+)

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Cmp	Cmp%	RateAll	ADOT	Prss	Hrry	QBKD	Bltz	MissTkl	Miss%
2020	22	KC	16	0*	15	13	0.9	90.0	2.9	2	1	0	19	6	0.1
2021	23	KC	12	7*	26	23	0.9	87.0	3.4	4	3	0	29	5	0.1
2022	24	KC	13	9*	52	42	0.8	92.1	2.1	4	0	1	30	9	0.1
2023	25	KC	16	10*	29	22	0.8	76.4	2.4	5	2	2	37	4	0.1
2024	26	NO	15	0*	10	5	0.5	107.9	2.0	3	1	0	14	3	0.1
2025	27	MIA	17	0*	11	7	0.6	94.1	4.4	2	0	0	12	0	0.0
Career			89	26*	143	112	—	—	—	20	7	3	141	27	—

* GS not available from free sources — SG* estimated from snap share (nflverse 2012+)

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 57 · Strong Starter

A strong starter career by KV-H: a well-rounded profile that scores 57 of 100, era-normalized against tackles/g peers across 6 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 57 × longevity 1 = KV-H 57· confidence 100%

What builds the career mark of 55

On-field 39.8

Availability 15.2

On-field production Staying available

Season-by-season quality (era-relative tackles/g)

2020bestavg 542025

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 5% of the all-time Sacks leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

5% of the all-time Sacks leader5

0 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader0

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leaderat this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 88%.

Per-Snap Impact

Linebackers · proprietary · 2012+

Above average

SIS

Disruption / 100 snaps:3.157See leaderboard →

Disruption/1003.157Snap share43.4%Def snaps2,344VolatileCV 0.45

Production per snap — the box score normalized by opportunity. SIS is z-scored within linebackers, shrinkage-regularized so small samples don't spike, over the NFL snap-count era (2012+).

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). Indigo = average linebackers aging curve. Group peak age: 25. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

Combine · 2020

Percentiles compare each raw measurement against position peers, the full combine pool, and the same draft class where enough samples exist.

LB · 2020 class

4.46s

40-Yard

Elite · 97th pct

Pos 97thAll 84thClass Pos 95thClass All 86th

39.5"

Vertical

Elite · 93th pct

Pos 93thAll 93thClass Pos 98thClass All 93th

136"

Broad Jump

Elite · 99th pct

Pos 99thAll 99thClass Pos 98thClass All 99th

21 reps

Bench

Below avg · 40th pct

Pos 40thAll 50thClass Pos 56thClass All 52th

7.08s

3-Cone

Above avg · 56th pct

Pos 56thAll 59thClass Pos 58thClass All 70th

4.30s

Shuttle

Below avg · 48th pct

Pos 48thAll 56thClass Pos 76thClass All 73th

Postseason Career

8 playoff games

Defense

Tkl29Solo18Ast11TFL4QBHits2Sk0.5Dis6.5PD3FF1

College Stats

Mississippi StateCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Mississippi State), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

2020 Draft Class· this player went #63

#55J.K. DobbinsRB #56Raekwon DavisDT #57Van JeffersonWR #58Ezra ClevelandG #59Denzel MimsWR #60Joshua UcheLB #61Kristian FultonCB #62AJ DillonRB #64Jeremy ChinnSAF #65Logan WilsonLB #66Antonio GibsonRB #67Julian OkwaraDE #68Ashtyn DavisSAF #69Damien LewisG #70Brandon JonesDB #71Nnamdi MadubuikeDT

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Willie inherited the Kansas City Chiefs LB room from Frank Clark (2019–2022), and handed it to Michael Danna (2020–2025).

Derrick Thomas 1989–1999Lonnie Marts 1991–1993Tracy Simien 1991–1997Greg Manusky 1994–1999Donnie Edwards 1996–2008Marvcus Patton

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Movementderived from season history

2025team change
Joined MIA (from NO)
2025final season
Last recorded season with MIA
2024team change
Joined NO (from KC)
2020draft
Drafted by KC — Round 2, Pick 63

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'1" / 246 lb

Frame

243 lb at 4.46s

Size-speed

39.5" vert / 136" broad

Explosion

21 reps

Bench power

Injury History

2 career games missed (Out)

From nflverse weekly injury reports · coverage begins 2009.

Season	Team	Games Out	Designations
2024	NO	1	W1Questionable· BackW5Out· HandW18Questionable· Shoulder
2023	KC	0	W3Questionable· QuadricepW9Questionable· Back
2021	KC	1	W15Out· Covid/Reserve
2020	KC	0	W19Out· AnkleW20Out· AnkleW21Out· Knee / Ankle

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 6-season peers. See all →

peak 60

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

C+2020

C+2021

B2022

C+2023

C2024

C2025

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 6 seasons.

88%

Era Translator

Tackles translated to the 2025NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Tackles	Tackles/G	→ 2025 Tackles	→ 2025 /G
2020	37	2.8	45+8	2.7
2021	44	3.7	59+15	3.5
2022	79	6.1	100+21	5.9
2023	56	3.5	59+3	3.5
2024	21	1.9	34+13	2
2025	20	2.2	38+18	2.2

Data: nflverse:players, nflverse:player_stats_def, nflverse:snap_counts, nflverse:combine, nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:injuries · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 6/18/2026

Career Value · VORP

44 career value over replacement — #2234 all-time of 4,642. 7.3/season above a replacement-level LB.

Draft OutcomeValue ↑

Pick #63 (Rd 2) · KC · 2020 · +10.1 vs expected KV-H

57actual

46.9 expected · Δ+10.1

Fan Rating

Rate Willie Gay Jr. — All-Time

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Compare Willie Gay Jr. vs Player Report data error

Willie Gay Jr.

Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Defense

Snap Counts

Advanced Defense & Coverage (2018+)

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Per-Snap Impact

Career Aging Trajectory

Combine · 2020

Postseason Career

Defense

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

2020 Draft Class· this player went #63

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Injury History

Knox

Era Translator

Career Geography