Four-year veteran guard Trey Smith will not hit free agency, as the team will use the franchise tag to retain his services. Smith, a former sixth-round pick and two-time Super Bowl champion, spent the entirety of his career with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Chiefs Use Franchise Tag on Trey Smith
Much like the Kansas City Chiefs themselves, Trey Smith is coming off yet another fantastic season. Helping to form the league’s best interior offensive line, Smith finished the season with a 75.1 PFF grade, the 14th-best mark out of 77 eligible players. Despite four years of high play, he also made the first Pro Bowl of his career. Kansas City made the Super Bowl for the third straight season but missed the chance to three-peat, losing a blowout to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Trey Smith originally entered the league as a sixth-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Selected by the Kansas City Chiefs, nobody expected much out of the Tennessee product on draft day. However, he immediately outplayed his draft capital and established himself as one of the bigger draft steals in recent memory. Starting right away as a rookie, Smith finished his inaugural season with a 72.7 PFF grade, the 15th-best mark out of 82 eligible players.
Smith proved this wasn’t a one-year fluke, as he remained one of the league’s top guards in 2022. Starting and appearing in 16 games, the second-year pro finished the season with a 72.3 PFF grade while helping the Chiefs win their second Super Bowl of the Patrick Mahomes Era and the first since Smith joined the team.
The Tennessee product returned to the starting lineup in 2023 and continued to provide elite play alongside left guard Joe Thuney and center Creed Humphrey. Providing an elite pocket for Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City won their second Super Bowl in as many seasons after defeating the San Francisco 49ers in an overtime thriller.
Main Photo: Mark J. Rebilas – Imagn Images
