With news breaking of Trey Smith signing a four-year extension with the Kansas City Chiefs, there’s lots to celebrate for general manager Brett Veach and the rest of the team’s front office.

Their ability to identify Trey Smith as a top-shelf talent in the draft and to work through the medical concerns surrounding blood clots in his lungs should be celebrated.

Smith came in on day one and took the starting guard job after the offensive line was totally rebuilt. This extension is a major achievement for them.

However, this move turns up the pressure on the rest of the offensive line. It’s strange to say the Chiefs needed to extend a guard who was on the field for total domination in the Super Bowl. After a similar result (2020 Super Bowl), the Chiefs cleared house on their offensive line. This time, they traded away an All-Pro and handed a record-setting deal to another.

The Chiefs are telling us they believe their issues last year were due to their left tackle and left guard. Obviously, if Joe Thuney had been playing at guard instead of tackle, the guard play would’ve been better than Mike Caliendo’s.

Given the investments made, the Chiefs’ offensive front has to deliver real results in 2025.

The Chiefs will head into 2025 with one of, if not the most, expensive offensive lines in football, especially when you factor in Jawaan Taylor having the second-largest cap hit on the team and $15 million for Jaylon Moore.

There aren’t any more excuses left for the offensive line to be anything other than good. The highest-paid center in the league and guard. A top-three contract for a right tackle in the league. A first-round pick at tackle, a second-round pick at guard, a third-round swing tackle, a $15 million-a-year tackle, and two Day 3 picks along the interior. If Mahomes isn’t protected, there needs to be some tough conversations about the coaching and/or talent acquisition.

With over $120 million committed to Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith over the next three years, the Chiefs don’t have much flexibility along the offensive line, especially when you factor in potential extensions for Trent McDuffie and George Karlaftis.

On the optimistic side of things: if Josh Simmons is who the Chiefs hope he is, if Jaylon Moore can step into the right tackle role this year or next year, and if Kingsley Suamataia can be an average starter at guard, there’s plenty of flexibility.

However, that’s a lot of “ifs.” Chances are, something in that plan is not going to work. Simmons might not be healthy or could get reinjured. Jaylon Moore was a backup in a very friendly offensive line system in San Francisco, and it’s hard to imagine Kingsley Suamataia being great at guard after being a disaster at tackle.

Somehow, the Chiefs are still trying to solve their tackle spots, something they’ve been doing since Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz went down in 2020. The extensions for both Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith just mean it’s even more important for the rest of the offensive line to produce, especially those on rookie contracts.

We’ve seen firsthand just how hard it is to find a long-term solution at tackle. The Chiefs would be incredibly fortunate if they come out of this season feeling that Simmons and Moore can be their starting tackles in 2026, allowing them to shed Taylor’s salary.

Lastly, Smith needs to be good. Being paid as the top guard in the NFL right now is more about timing than anything else. The Chiefs know Smith isn’t the best guard in the NFL right now, but they had to pay that price to keep him. Trey needs to remain a top-10 guard, at least, for this contract to work. Creed quickly backed up his contract by being named an All-Pro and improving his snaps after his record-setting deal in 2024.

As Uncle Ben from Spider-Man once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” The power of Trey Smith’s contract brings the responsibility of the future of this offensive line, something that has literally cost the Chiefs two Super Bowls and, consequently, won them three. The fact is, when Mahomes has been kept upright in the big game, he’s hoisted Lombardi Trophies. That has to continue in 2025.