The Kansas City Chiefs needed cap space after their roster cutdowns, so they made a money move with guard Trey Smith.
The Kansas City Chiefs found themselves with a bit of a salary cap situation, so they restructured the contract of offensive guard Trey Smith, according to a report from Adam La Rose of ProFootballRumor.com.
Kansas City converted $18.54 million of Smith’s 2026 base salary into a signing bonus, per La Rose via Over the Cap. As a result, Smith’s cap hit for this season was lowered by $12.54 million in the process.
The move gives the Chiefs $13.85 million of cap space as Week 1 approaches. That number still ranks near the bottom of the league in available space, but the Chiefs needed to do this after making their roster cuts and configuring their practice squad. It gives the Chiefs some amount of maneuverability going forward, which they may need given the uncertainty in their offensive line at the moment.
The tradeoff os that Smith’s cap charge for the remaining two years of his deal has gone up to $34.17 million. Smith’s base salary of $23.25 million is already guaranteed in full after it vested earlier this season, and another rework could be happening next spring, per La Rose. The goal overall would be to finalize Smith’s contract in 2028 with no extra money remaining.
What this means on the field is a reflection of Smith’s current injury situation. The 27-year old guard received the franchise tag last year, and the guard market has moved up slightly with deals to Tyler Smith of the Dallas Cowboys and Peter Skoronski of the Tennessee Titans. Smith is now tied for third in salary, and the Chiefs are hoping he’ll remain a foundational piece going forward.
The injuries are concerning, however. Smith was an iron man in the first four years of his career, playing in 67 of 68 regular season games, but he missed five games last year due to a combination of back spasms and ankle injuries.
He’s struggled with hip injuries in training camp, and that’s part of the uncertainty with the offensive line. The Chiefs experimented with moving tackles Jaylon Moore and Kahlil Benson inside to provide added line depth, but the move didn’t work out all that well.
Now Kansas City is just hoping to have Smith back and healthy for the Chiefs’ Week 1 game against the Denver Broncos. They’re also having issues at tackle, and injuries have been an ongoing problem throughout training camp for Kansas City.
