In a space of just six days, Kansas City has signed two of its top players to long-term deals.
As recently as noon on Tuesday, we didn’t know if the Kansas City Chiefs would be able to come to a long-term agreement with right guard Trey Smith. But just hours before the league’s deadline for a new contract, the two sides agreed to a four-year deal worth $94 million.
Smith’s deal gave the team additional cap space that could be used to get contract extensions for the team’s two first-round draft picks from 2022: cornerback Trent McDuffie and defensive end George Karlaftis. On Sunday afternoon — as the team’s players were reporting to training camp at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph — we learned that the Chiefs had started with the former Purdue pass rusher, giving him a four-year extension worth up to $93 million in new money.
Speaking to reporters shortly after the news had broken, head coach Andy Reid praised general manager Brett Veach and his staff for making the two deals happen.
“[Assistant general manager] Chris Shea and the guys have to work through all of that — the money part of it — and they do a heck of a job with it,” noted Reid. “It’s an ongoing thing. You’ve got to have a good feel [and] a good plan for the future as you do it.”
It also helps that Karlaftis has turned out to be precisely the kind of player Kansas City was hoping to obtain with 2022’s 30th pick.
“He’s smart [and] relentless,” said Reid. “He’s reliable. You can trust that he’s going to be there, do the right things and go 100 miles an hour doing them. He’s very well respected.”
Smith, of course, was selected with a much later pick in the 2021 draft. Because of a medical condition that had been diagnosed during his sophomore year at the University of Tennessee, he was still available after the fifth round. Four years later, he’s considered to be among the league’s top guards.
“How great is that?” asked Reid. “[A] sixth-round pick. He came in with the lung situation — the blood clots. It was a great thing he was able to work through that just for his overall health — football or no football — but to be able to come in and play at the level he’s played at and that toughness he brings with it? He’s an aggressive personality on the field — a teddy bear off the field — but he brings it every game.”
Both of the newly signed players will be on hand as the team conducts meetings on Monday, getting everything squared away before training camp’s first practice on Tuesday morning.
And who knows? Before the season begins, the team may even be able to get an extension worked out with McDuffie.