According to Nate Taylor, the Chiefs are not expected to use either the franchise tag or the transition tag to retain G Trey Smith.
<img data-recalc-dims="1" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="300" height="200" class="size-medium wp-image-554505 alignright" src="https://i0.wp.com/nfltraderumors.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/USATSI_24055983_168383805_lowres.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1" alt=""ESPN’s Adam Schefter had named Smith as a potential tag candidate and later expanded that Kansas City could consider using the transition tender on Smith.
Under the franchise tag, Smith would make $25.15 million in 2025 which would make him the highest-paid OL in the league by AAV. Schefter tweeted it’s “hard to imagine” the Chiefs would use the franchise tender on Smith and it’s “more palatable and plausible” that they would use the transition tag at a lower salary.
There are three types of tags teams can use but most teams use either the non-exclusive franchise tag or the transition tag. The franchise tag pays the player the average of the top five salaries at the position or 120 percent of his previous salary. In comparison, the transition tag is an average of the top 10 salaries at the position.
With the transition tag, other teams can negotiate an offer sheet with Smith and the Chiefs would not receive compensation if they chose not to match the offer, unlike the non-exclusive tag where they would receive two first-round picks.
Smith, 25, was a two-time first-team All-SEC selection at Tennessee but missed a chunk of his sophomore season due to blood clots. That contributed to him sliding to the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft, where he was selected by the Chiefs.
He signed a four-year, $3.61 million rookie contract that included a signing bonus of $130,704. Smith made a base salary of $3.366 million in 2024 after qualifying for the Proven Performance Escalator.
In 2024, Smith appeared in all 17 games for the Chiefs and made 17 starts at right guard. Pro Football Focus has him graded as the No. 14 guard out of 77 qualifying players.
We have him included in our Top 100 2025 NFL Free Agents list.
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