The Kansas City Chiefs signed RG Trey Smith on a four-year deal that will make him the highest-paid guard in NFL history, boasting a record-setting AAV and guaranteed money at signing.

The former sixth-round draft pick from the University of Tennessee has proven to be an integral part of the Chiefs’ offense since his rookie campaign in 2021. He’s started 80 combined regular-season and postseason games since entering the league, missing a single game during the 2022 NFL season. He’s protected Patrick Mahomes, set the tone for the run game, and genuinely become synonymous with offensive football in Kansas City.

The truth behind Smith’s extension is that it’s as much about the rest of the offensive line as it is about keeping an excellent, tone-setting, homegrown talent at the guard position.

Creed Humphrey keeps his tag team partner

With Joe Thuney now in Chicago, the Chiefs needed to solidify the future of their offensive line. The entire left side of the offensive line will feature new players in 2025, and the position group needs as much stability as possible to ensure continuity. They already struggled a season ago to find a solution at left tackle and must avoid taking any steps backward in the future. Humphrey and Smith have started 46 consecutive regular-season games beside each other and have become the perfect tag-team in both the run game and pass protection.

Humphrey was locked up with a long-term extension a season ago, and now Smith gets a deal that will keep the two players together as the salty veterans in Kansas City. They’ll be the two that are looked up to by the young and wide-eyed rookies. Just a season ago, the pair combined for just 33 pressures allowed and no sacks of Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, each playing 1,115 snaps. They’ll be asked to continue to play at that same caliber, but also bring everything they know to help the newcomers on the offensive line succeed.

The Chiefs will have $120 million in guaranteed money locked up between Humphrey and Smith, which means they’ve got to get things right at the two positions that are the least stable on the offensive line.

The pressure is on to get things right at left tackle and left guard

With all of this money committed at the center and right guard, it’s imperative that the Chiefs get things right at the left tackle and left guard positions. They need cheap yet effective solutions at those spots over the next four years to help offset the cost of locking up a player like Trey Smith. That’s how you compete for Super Bowls in the league, consistently pairing young talent with the right high-priced contracts.

Whether it’s Josh Simmons or Jaylon Moore at left tackle doesn’t necessarily matter, so long as they’re keeping Mahomes upright. For Simmons to become anywhere from a serviceable starter to the much-hyped Trent Williams clone would be the ideal, especially given what he’ll cost for the next five years. At left guard, Kingsley Suamataia panning out would be preferable to Mike Caliendo because it’d provide Kansas City with at least three seasons of a solution before they’ll have to worry about a contract extension.

We’re a year away from Chiefs RT Jawaan Taylor leaving the villa

Chiefs fans have long been wondering when exactly the team can get out of RT Jawaan Taylor’s deal, and this move practically guarantees that the end is near. Taylor will be with the team for the 2025 NFL season, but with Smith’s cap hit ballooning to $24 million in 2026, it makes the out year in Taylor’s contract that much more appealing.

Taylor is currently slated to count $27.4 million against the salary cap in 2026, which ranks as the third-highest cap hit on the roster behind Patrick Mahomes and Chris Jones. Releasing Taylor as a cap casualty would save the Chiefs $20 million in cap space, and add a $7.4 dead money charge against the cap. With extensions for 2022 NFL Draft picks on deck, they’re likely going to need that extra cap space come the 2026 NFL free agency period.

Jaylon Moore’s two-year deal also factors into the equation here, as does the development of players like Wanya Morris, Ethan Driskell, Chu Godrick, and Esa Pole. Moore may play a swing tackle-type role in 2025 before taking over a starting job on the right side in 2026. It also opens up an opportunity for Morris, Driskell, Godrick, or Pole to prove they’ve got what it takes over the next calendar year.