The Chiefs have gotten remarkable consistency from their interior OL over the past three seasons, but 2024 might mark the trio’s final season together in Kansas City. As Nate Taylor of The Athletic writes, there’s a chance that offensive guard Trey Smith may be entering his final season with the Chiefs.
This prediction says nothing of Smith’s production nor importance to the organization. Smith has graded out as one of Pro Football Focus’ top-15 offensive guards in each of his three NFL seasons, including a 2023 campaign where he ranked 10th among 79 qualifying players. The former sixth-round pick has also avoided injuries, appearing in 60 of 61 possible games between 2021 and 2023 (including playoffs).
So, Smith’s chances of sticking in Kansas City is more a reflection of his upcoming market value. If Smith has another healthy and productive season in 2024, he’ll be setting himself up to be one of the top free agents at his position. He’ll be joining the likes of Sam Cosmi, Quinn Meinerz, and Zack Martin. Robert Hunt joined Chris Lindstrom in the $20MM AAV club among guards this offseason, and there’s a chance Smith could join that grouping in 2025.
The Chiefs could try to squeeze Smith into their future budgets, but as Taylor notes, the team will have other pressing free agency issues. Center Creed Humphrey and linebacker Nick Bolton are also impending free agents, and Taylor suggests the organization may prioritize re-signing that duo over Smith.
Considering the impending free agencies of Smith and Humphrey, there’s a good chance the 2024 season marks the end of the team’s guard and center grouping. Smith, Humphrey, and guard Joe Thuney have been protecting Patrick Mahomes in the majority of his appearances since the 2021 campaign. Thuney is the only one who’s run into any injury issues, and even then, he’s only missed four total games (regular season and playoffs) over that span.
Maybe just maybe, if the league would require KC to use only 4 OL players and a TE on only 5 plays per game some team might take their crown.
It’s not like they are really good. They hold a lot, so a ton of sacks get taken away and they don’t lose the down because of it. They just somehow become miraculous during the playoffs and don’t get called for holding.
Mahomes would probably still find a way to beat them, fan or not, he’s just a winner, he knows how to win the big games
With 25 years experience under his (always expanding) belt, Andy Reid is one of the best coaches at plugging gaps when personnel changes occur. I don’t think sounding any alarms in KC is necessary at this point as the other teams in the AFC West are still a couple of seasons away from being able to unseat the Chiefs.
Smith is a very good player and a great story, but I’m not so sure someone is going to give a guard $20 million per year when the reason he fell in the draft was a blood clot disorder in his lungs that made him uncertain to even be able to continue playing at all.