Chiefs standout lineman earned huge offseason pay bump
This guy was not only one of the Chiefs best offensive lineman, but was one of the best at his position throughout the league.
The Kansas City Chiefs guard Trey Smith earned a well-deserved payday Friday for exceeding his expected playing time as a 2021 sixth-round pick.
Smith earned $663,756 in performance-based pay, which was the 20th most of all 25 players who earned performance-based pay bumps.
Smith earned a base salary of just $940 thousand last season. Smith played 100% of offensive snaps in his rookie year and played 96% of offensive snaps last season. His performance-based pay nearly doubled that amount for playing 96% of offensive snaps.
From the league:
“Under the Performance-Based Pay program, a fund is created and used as a supplemental form of player compensation based on a comparison of playing time to salary. Players become eligible to receive a bonus distribution in any regular season in which they play at least one official down. In general, players with higher playtime percentages and lower salaries benefit most from the pool.
“Performance-Based Pay is computed by using a player index (“Index”). To produce the Index, a player’s “PBP Playtime” (defined as the player’s regular season total plays played on offense, defense, and special teams, divided by the number of plays of the player with the most total combined plays on that team) is divided by his “PBP Compensation” (defined as a regular season full salary, a prorated portion of a signing bonus, earned incentives). Each player’s Index is then compared to those of the other players on his team to determine the amount of his Performance-Based Pay. If a player’s base salary is less than the Minimum Salary of a player with seven or more Credited Seasons, then the player’s base salary will be imputed to be equal to the Minimum Salary of a player with seven or more Credited Seasons (i.e., $1.120M for the 2022 season). By imputing a minimum salary of $1.120 million, a slightly higher percentage of the pool is directed to high-performing veteran players whose salaries exceed $1.120 million, but are not among the highest in the league, as contemplated by the formula. This imputation of salary is solely for the purpose of calculating distributions from the pool and does not affect the actual salary paid to the player under his contract.”
After next year, Smith will have three seasons under his belt, per Franchisesports.com, that means after next year he is eligible for a contract extension. So, this won't be his only big payday soon.
Smith fell to the Chiefs because of some health issues, and honestly, he has been a steal ever since. He is just another example, of the four or five on the team, that the Chiefs draft well in the later rounds. Smith, Pacheco, Williams, and Watson all also could be getting a pay bump like this sometime soon.
