The Chiefs are hoping to reach an agreement with franchise-tagged right guard Trey Smith ahead of a July 15 deadline for him to sign a multi-year deal.

The team has been in touch with Smith’s representation in recent days, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, but negotiations are coming down to the wire. Smith already signed his non-exclusive franchise tag in March, locking in a fully guaranteed $23.4MM salary for the 2025 season if the two sides can’t come to multi-year terms before the deadline passes tomorrow.

An extension has obvious appeal for both sides. For Kansas City, it’s a chance to lock down one of their best players for the foreseeable future while reducing a 2025 cap hit that ranks third among all offensive lineman. (Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor ranks second, according to PFR’s Adam La Rose.)

For Smith, an extension would mean long-term financial security and a stronger up-front cash flow. He said last week that he is focused on football and leaves the contract talks to his agents at Creative Artists Agency.

The $23.4MM tag makes Smith the highest-paid guard in the league ahead of Landon Dickerson at $21MM per year and three others with an APY above $20MM. A multi-year agreement with the Chiefs would keep Smith in the top spot, per Rapoport, but the Chiefs may not want to reset the market by $2.4MM.

A second tag in 2026 would be unlikely with a price tag of $28.08MM, but it could establish a framework for a deal. Two straight tags for Smith would pay him $51.48MM in fully guaranteed money over the next two years, outpacing the previous high of $48.2MM set by Chris Lindstrom. The Chiefs could design a contract with a similar cash flow and guarantee structure in an attempt to convince Smith to take an overall APY below $23.4MM.

Such a deal would have to come together before tomorrow’s deadline. If not, Smith will play on the tag this year to set up another round of extension negotiations after the season.

Time is ticking for the Chiefs and Trey Smith to agree to a multiyear extension. While both sides would benefit from some long-term security, it sounds like the offensive guard isn’t overly concerned about his current lame-duck status.

“I leave it to the hands of my agents,” Smith said during a recent appearance on Up and Adams (via NFL.com’s Nick Shook). “Obviously, the front office staff of the Chiefs are elite, and you know, at the end of the day, I just let them take care of it. I just have to focus on being the best version of myself, being the best football player and being prepared for training camp because St. Joe’s is around the corner.”

The former sixth-round pick finished his rookie contract in 2024 and was subsequently slapped with the franchise tag. That means the offensive guard is temporarily attached to a $23.4MM salary for the upcoming season, an AAV that would easily make him the highest-paid player at his position. That probably explains why Smith isn’t sweating his lack of an extension, and assuming he can stay healthy next season, he may be happy to face a similar situation next year. The two sides have until July 15th to agree to an extension. Otherwise, Smith will play the upcoming season on the tag.

Still, it seems pretty clear that Smith is destined to ink a long-term deal with Kansas City. The Chiefs moved on from fellow guard Joe Thuney this offseason, opening a potential hole on one side of the offensive line. That competition will likely come down to Mike Caliendo and Kingsley Suamataia, who have combined for five career NFL starts.

Alongside center Creed Humphrey, Smith provides some stability on the interior. Smith has only missed a single regular season game since entering the NFL, and he’s consistently finished in the top-20 in Pro Football Focus’ positional rankings. With a Pro Bowl nod and two Super Bowl rings on his resume, Smith is surely eyeing a lucrative pay day, and the Chiefs have plenty of reasons to hand him that next pact.

Trey Smith seemed at one point to be on track for free agency and thus a massive contract sending him to a new team. Instead, the Chiefs kept him in place via the franchise tag, buying team and player time to work out an extension agreement.

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As things stand, Smith is on track to earn $23.4MM next year, a figure inflated by the fact all offensive linemen are grouped together for tag purposes. Landon Dickerson leads the way for guards in terms of annual compensation on multi-year deals at $21MM, something which made the Chiefs’ decision to apply the one-year tender somewhat surprising in the eyes of some observers. Kansas City is aiming to keep Smith in the fold well beyond 2025, though, and general manager Brett Veach recently confirmed as much.

“Hopefully we get that done,” Veach said during his pre-draft press conference when speaking about the Smith situation (via NFL.com). “There’s no lack of interest or will or desire on our end… My guess is once the draft’s over and our focus is back on taking care of the players that are here and trying to get those guys locked up… There’s no secret there that we’d like to get Trey locked up.”

The attention of teams and agents alike will remain focused squarely on the draft for the several more days, but afterwards the Chiefs will have a number of extension candidates to deal with. Smith, 25, is understandably atop that list given his importance to the team’s offensive line. A key factor in the decision to trade away fellow guard Joe Thuney was the need to make a lucrative commitment to a younger option in the form of Smith. The latter has started all 80 of his combined regular and postseason games, and in 2024 he became a Pro Bowler for the first time.

Creed Humphrey reset the center market ($18MM per season) with his Chiefs extension, one which raised questions about the team’s willingness to make another lucrative investment on the interior. Veach’s comments certainly confirm Kansas city is prepared to move forward with a Humphrey-Smith tandem for years to come, however. The ninth-year GM noted extension talks took place with Smith’s agents during the Combine and again at last month’s league meetings.

As a result, it will be interesting to see if traction can be gained in short order with respect to an extension agreement once the draft concludes. If that proves to be the case, Smith’s future beyond the coming season will become clear.

An earlier report today discussed how, despite the difficulty the Chiefs would face in adding another eight-figure-per-year deal to their ledger, general manager Brett Veach felt “pretty optimistic” about extending right guard Trey Smith to a long-term deal. An even more recent report from Nate Taylor of The Athletic tell us that there’s “growing optimism” that Kansas City will sign Smith to a five-year deal soon.

Taylor dropped the news on the Only Weird Games podcast, changing the perspective a bit on the Chiefs’ chances to extend their impressive young guard. Depending on the franchise tag statuses of quarterback Sam Darnold and wide receiver Tee Higgins, Smith has a chance to land one of the largest contracts (per annual average value) in free agency this offseason.

Coming into 2025, the Chiefs already have Patrick Mahomes ($45MM per year), Chris Jones ($31.75MM), Jawaan Taylor ($20MM), Creed Humphrey ($18MM), Joe Thuney ($16MM), and potentially Travis Kelce ($17.13MM) on deals averaging eight figures per year. With three of those big salaries already coming along the offensive line and all but one on the offensive side of the ball, it seemed relatively unlikely that we would see Kansas City dedicate yet another big-money, long-term deal to that particular area of the team. Nevertheless, Taylor seems to be indicating that it’s more likely than we presumed.

Since getting drafted in the sixth round in 2021, Smith has consistently been a top-15 guard in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), grading out as high as the 10th-best guard in the league last year. It took him until this year to be recognized for those efforts, as he earned his first career Pro Bowl invite in 2024, though two Super Bowl rings are probably decent consolation.

We have heard plenty about the Smith situation over the past several months. The Bears have been linked to reuniting him with Ryan Poles, who was on the Chiefs’ staff when they drafted Smith. The Chiefs are not expected to tag the guard, as the position is rarely tagged, due to all offensive linemen being grouped together under the tag formula, meaning that tackles drive up the tag prices for guards. The team will have until 11am CT on March 10 to negotiate exclusively with Smith’s camp. Considering Smith has made it this far, it would take a monster offer to keep him from speaking with other teams.

While the “growing optimism” is surely encouraging, the Chiefs have work to do. It sounds like the groundwork is being laid to establish Smith as the right guard of the future in Kansas City, but they have not crossed the finish line yet. The upcoming NFL Scouting Combine serves as an unofficial tampering period, and the Pro Bowl blocker will probably learn more about who is interested this week while getting an idea of his value. A deal that eclipses Landon Dickerson‘s guard-record extension (four years, $84MM) should be expected, as the cap is again spiking by more than $20MM, and Smith will have the leverage of a tantalizing open market that is sure to reward him handsomely.

Regardless, it seems that things are trending in the right direction for Kansas City to hold on to their talented, consistent, young guard. The sooner they can push this deal across the finish line, the better for the team. Either way, Smith is fast on his way to securing the big bucks and solidifying himself as a household name in the NFL.