The Kansas City Chiefs may have to rebuild their offensive line next season without star guard Trey Smith, who will become a free agent next month.
Smith joined the Chiefs as a sixth-round selection in the 2021 NFL draft and was a top contributor in Kansas City’s victories in Super Bowl LVII and LVIII.
Should he hit the open market in free agency, Smith would command a massive contract that would likely be too costly for the Chiefs, who are set to enter the offseason with several needs to address.
To keep Smith from signing elsewhere, Kansas City could use the franchise tag to sign him to a one-year deal that would pay $25,156,000.
According to the experts at OverTheCap.com, the Chiefs currently have $941,128 in cap space, so Kansas City would need to make some significant moves to accommodate such a massive contract.
The Chiefs can restructure Patrick Mahomes’ contract to free up $38,996,000 in cap space, but any deal for Smith would have to wait until the star quarterback’s situation was figured out first.
At $25,156,000 Smith’s salary on the franchise tag would impact Kansas City’s ability to shore up depth at several other positions.
As such, it seems unlikely that the Chiefs would choose to place the franchise tag on Smith.