Chiefs sign Trey Smith to record-breaking new contract. Here are the details
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Chiefs signed Trey Smith to four-year, $94M deal with $70M guaranteed salary.
- Smith's extension makes him NFL's highest-paid guard, surpassing Landon Dickerson.
- Rising salary cap enabled Chiefs to prioritize and retain Smith before deadline.
The Kansas City Chiefs locked in one of their stars Tuesday afternoon, agreeing to a four-year, $94 million contract extension with guard Trey Smith, The Star has confirmed.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter was first to report the terms of the deal.
Smith’s new deal, at $23.5 million per year, also guarantees the offensive lineman $70 million. The 26-year-old Smith becomes the highest-paid guard in NFL history, topping Philadelphia’s Landon Dickerson, who was extended last year at four years and $84 million on a contract with a $21 million average annual value.
KC got creative in how it looked to keep Smith for the long run — and also just beat the buzzer.
The Chiefs chose to put the franchise tag on Smith in February, guaranteeing him a one-year deal for $23.4 million. That also gave them exclusive negotiating rights on a long-term contract — until Tuesday’s NFL-mandated 3 p.m. deadline.
Roughly two hours before that, the two sides officially agreed to their long-term pact.
Smith has started for the Chiefs in each of the last four seasons, earning a Pro Bowl nod in 2024. Just this week, Smith was ranked the NFL’s fourth-best interior offensive lineman in an ESPN survey of anonymous league executives, coaches, and scouts.
One AFC executive described Smith in the article this way: “Power, brute strength, physicality — he’s a people-mover and a people-stopper.”
KC originally drafted Smith in the sixth round of the 2021 draft. His draft stock fell partly because of medical concerns, as college tests revealed he had blood clots in both lungs — a life-threatening condition if left untreated.
The Chiefs retaining Smith long-term became more of a possibility in February when, unexpectedly, the NFL’s salary cap rose higher than expected to $279.2 million. General manager Brett Veach said at the NFL Combine in February that single change “could put Trey back into play.”
Veach had said early in the offseason that locking up Smith was KC’s No. 1 free-agency priority.
“You guys see what’s out there in free agency,” Veach said in February. “As far as (Smith) checking off the boxes of young guy, great guy and position that we want to say strong at ... we’ve been solid in the interior.”
During an interview last week with Kay Adams of the “Up & Adams” podcast, Smith said he left all recent negotiations up to his agents, CAA’s Tory Dandy and Jimmy Sexton.
This story was originally published July 15, 2025 at 1:22 PM.
