Chiefs Officially Place Franchise Tag on Star OL

The Kansas City Chiefs have placed the franchise tag on Trey Smith.

Nov 17, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Kansas City Chiefs guard Trey Smith (65) leaves the field after warm ups before a game against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

The Kansas City Chiefs are keeping one of their best players.

The Chiefs announced Friday that they were officially placing the non-exclusive franchise tender on right guard Trey Smith, setting up a chance for Smith to be the NFL's highest-paid guard in 2025.

Smith was set to be one of the top free agents on the entire market in 2025, but now the Chiefs are set to keep one of their core pieces and best draft success stories. Smith has established himself as one of the best guards in the NFL, and the Chiefs did what they needed to ensure he remained with the team.

The development of Smith has been one of the highlights of the Chiefs' recent run. Now, Smith is sticking around on either a one-year deal or an extended contract that continues to make him one of the NFL's highest-paid guards.

"Yeah, I mean, he's obviously at the top of the list, and we've already had some good dialogue with him and with CAA and Tory and Jimmy (Sexton) and his crew," Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said this week at the NFL Scouting Combine.

"So obviously, a lot to work through but, I mean, this is the time of the year to do that. And again, we've already had some initial dialogue, and that will continue on this week and in the days to come leading up before free agency. So we'll certainly do what we can and feel pretty optimistic about our possibilities there."

Veach and the Chiefs knew they always had this option, and the rising NFL cap truly made this a possibility.

Now, Smith is set to remain as a key piece of the Chiefs' offense. The Chiefs will have to continue to throw resources at the offensive line after their performance in this year's Super Bowl loss, and tagging Smith is a smart first step toward accomplishing that job.

"Yeah, so, we try to look at everything having just finished here a little bit ago, we're going through that whole process, and so we'll try to improve, just in general as a football team. That'll be one of the spots we look at, so for sure," Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said.

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