Bengals’ Guard Targets in Free Agency: Would Trey Smith Make Sense Despite the Dollars?

CINCINNATI – The Cincinnati Bengals are in the market for an upgrade at guard, and there would be no bigger swing than the Kansas City Chiefs’ Trey Smith.

Pro Football Focus ranks Smith as the second-best free agent available this offseason after he ranked 13th among 60 guards with at least 600 snaps in 2024.

PFF graded Smith as the No. 9 guard in run blocking and No. 29 in pass blocking as he earned the first Pro Bowl selection of his career.

A sixth-round pick in 2021, Smith earned a big pay raise this year via the NFL’s proven performance escalator, which took his base salary from $1.2M as part of his rookie deal to $3.4 million.

And that will dwarf what Smith will earn moving forward. Spotrac.com estimates Smith’s market value to be $19.7 million per year, with a projected contract of four years for $78.8 million.

That would make Smith, who will turn 26 in June, one of the top five paid guards in the league.

Given the Bengals’ history when it comes to playing guards and their current cap restrictions, Smith isn’t likely to be in their plans.

But no one expected Orlando Brown Jr. to be an option in Cincinnati in 2023, so it’s at least worth taking a look at Smith.

The former Tennessee Volunteer has ranked among the best guards in the league in each of his first four seasons while starting 79 of a possible 80 regular season and postseason games.

Due to a blood clots diagnosis while he was at Tennessee, Smith plummeted on draft boards and was the eighth guard selected when the Chiefs took a chance on him with the No. 226 pick.

That was 24 picks after the Bengals selected running back Chris Evans.

Since then, only Kansas City teammate Creed Humphrey and Pittsburgh running back Najee Harris have more career regular season starts than Smith among the 2021 draft class.

There are 31 players from that draft with at least 50 starts. Only four were selected on Day – Smith, Pittsburgh tackle Dan Moore Jr., Detroit wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and Minnesota safety Camryn Byrum.

Smith ranked sixth in the league in ESPN’s run block win rate metric in 2024.

As a rookie, he was PFF’s No. 9-ranked run blocker among guards with at least 600 snaps, and he’s held steady in the top 10, ranking eighth in 2022 and 2023 and ninth this year.

It's the longest of long shots for the Bengals to dump that much money into the position, but upgrading the offensive line has been a focus ever since the Super Bowl LVI loss. Smith would be a huge upgrade, but there are larger issues that need addressed and plenty of other options with a banner crop of free agent guards available.

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