It's really just intuitive (wishful thinking?) on my part. But, it seemed to me at the time, having been so new to the team, and in such a dysfunctional offense with a mediocre QB, and crappy O-line, that Gray performed remarkably well in his situation. Good hands, strong, fast, good blocking, caught passes in stride without taking his eyes off the ball, and fought for extra yards.
And, if I remember some of those "well designed plays," (I feel like I do), he ran precise routes, and turned at exactly the right time, and got himself wide open-- made it look easy, as they say. A well designed play only looks well-designed when it is executed properly.
I also like his story. He's played a lot of different positions in his short career, including WR, FB, and QB. In my opinion, TE is something of an all-purpose position, with blocking, running, and receiving, and therefore requires a high degree of "football intelligence." Forgive me for using a punditry cliche', but I think it applies to him.
But, it seems that with his career in Buffalo being so short up until now, that he has been all but forgotten in conversations here in the offseason. And, at the moment, Chandler is "the guy." From the little we've seen, Gray appears to be head and shoulders above Chandler, albeit three inches shorter.