<\/p>\n
Major contract news broke this week, as the Kansas City Chiefs signed offensive lineman Trey Smith to a record-breaking four-year, $94 million deal, making him the highest-paid guard in NFL history.<\/p>\n
Smith, 26, was the lone player remaining on the franchise tag, which the Chiefs applied back in March, and he was slated to play the 2025 season on a one-year, $23 million contract.<\/p>\n
However, he now has a long-term deal with the Chiefs that includes $70 million guaranteed, the most money ever awarded to an NFL guard. Smith and the Chiefs had until Tuesday\u2019s 3 p.m. deadline to reach a deal, agreeing to one just hours before that.<\/p>\n
Smith is an integral part of a retooled Kansas City offensive line that includes free agent signee Jaylon Moore, All-Pro center Creed Humphrey, first-round pick Josh Simmons and right tackle Jawaan Taylor.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the offseason, Kansas City traded fellow guard Joe Thuney to the Chicago Bears for a 2026 fourth-round pick, creating $16 million in cap space while reaffirming their commitment to the younger Smith.<\/p>\n
Now, Smith is under contract through the 2028 season, with the four-year deal replacing the franchise tag that was previously in place.<\/p>\n
I shared a prediction for Smith\u2019s contract late last month, saying I expected him to reset the guard market. Let\u2019s compare the prediction to what the actual deal became.<\/p>\n
Back at the end of June, I projected Smith to become the NFL\u2019s highest-paid guard, noting that he already held that stature after earning a whopping $23.4 million one-year contract on the franchise tag.<\/p>\n
However, I didn\u2019t expect Smith to earn a deal that topped his franchise tag figure, given that the previous top guard contract was Landon Dickerson\u2019s four-year, $84 million deal with the Philadelphia Eagles.<\/p>\n
Instead, I projected a four-year, $86.5 million deal for Smith with $60.25 million guaranteed, which would\u2019ve been the second-most in the NFL behind Carolina\u2019s Robert Hunt, who got $63 million guaranteed on his five-year, $100 million deal.<\/p>\n
Given that Creed Humphrey got nearly 70 percent of his deal guaranteed and Jawaan Taylor got 75 percent of his deal guaranteed, I set Smith\u2019s guarantee percentage close to that 70 percent range as well.<\/p>\n
Smith got more than both of those numbers, receiving a four-year deal worth $23.5 million annually, which eclipses Dickerson\u2019s $21 million salary by nearly 12 percent. Additionally, his $70 million in guarantees is nearly 75 percent of the total contract, coming out to a record-breaking $70 million.<\/p>\n
Smith certainly got a strong deal to become the highest-paid guard, and all of it was new money, erasing the one-year franchise tag that was previously in place.<\/p>\n
The left guard has two years fully guaranteed at signing, while a third seems likely to guarantee, as his $23.5 million salary for the 2027 season is guaranteed by the third league day of 2026.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s funny to think about, but Smith could have potentially gotten even more money on the open market next year with the continuous rise of the salary cap.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, he got a record-breaking deal that eclipsed my projections and gave him long-term security with an extension that keeps him in Kansas City through the 2028 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trey Smith and the Chiefs reset the NFL\u2019s guard market, so how does the deal compare to the rest of the league?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":80734,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n