Kansas City Chiefs drop a bomb on former Tennessee Vol Trey Smith that almost no one expected would happen
It looks as though former Tennessee Vol standout Trey Smith isn't going to test the market and get his big payday after all. At least not outside of Kansas City. The Chiefs are reportedly putting the franchise tag on their standout guard two weeks before the start of free agency. The move is surprising for […]
It looks as though former Tennessee Vol standout Trey Smith isn't going to test the market and get his big payday after all. At least not outside of Kansas City.
The Chiefs are reportedly putting the franchise tag on their standout guard two weeks before the start of free agency.
The move is surprising for a couple of reasons. First, it's not one that many in the media had foreseen would happen. It was widely believed that Smith was going to be free to test the market and get a potentially record-setting deal this offseason somewhere north of $20 million per year for 4 or 5 seasons.
And that's in no small part because the Chiefs are not operating with a lot of cap space at the moment. Per OverTheCap.com, the Chiefs have $7.9 million in current cap space and $4.4 in effective cap space (projected space after expected cost of paying draft picks), which is 24th of 32 teams.
However, clearly Kansas City is trying to keep its offensive line, which was battered in the Super Bowl LIX loss to the Eagles, from getting worse. Smith has been a constant force in the middle protecting Patrick Mahomes since being drafted by the Chiefs in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
But to do that, they're either going to have to come to an agreement on a new contract to ease the cap hit this year, or they're going to have to find a way to clear over $15 million in cap space to accommodate the cap hit that the fully guaranteed salary would make. The two sides have until July 15 to come up with a new contract, which is the league deadline for a long-term deal, or Smith would have to play 2025 on the franchise tag.
We'll see if this is the first step of keeping Smith as a Chief for the long haul, but regardless, the former Tennessee standout is going to be getting a big chunk of money in 2025 one way or another.
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