THE Kansas City Chiefs are quickly approaching a deadline to sign a star player.
The Chiefs have until Tuesday to sign fifth-year player Trey Smith to a long-term contract extension.
Offensive lineman Trey Smith is coming off a Pro Bowl year on the final year of his rookie contract.
He is one of Patrick Mahomes’ key protectors.
Instead of getting an extension, the Chiefs decided to use the franchise tag on Smith.
Getting tagged doesn’t stop Smith from negotiating a better contract though.
However, he does have a deadline to get that deal done.
July 15 is the deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign long-term extensions.
If a deal isn’t reached, Smith will play the 2025 season on a $23.4 million, fully guaranteed deal.
On a long-term deal, the Chiefs could move his money around to allow more salary cap flexibility.
Smith has been a plus starter for the Chiefs in his four seasons with them.
He has only missed one game in that time, and it would make sense to extend him for the future.
Smith already signed his franchise tag, so he is ready to play no matter what, but he could end up on a new team in 2026 if no extension is reached.
Chiefs defensive star Chris Jones thinks that Smith is going about things the right way by accepting his franchise tag.
“Well, it’s good Trey didn’t take my approach,”; Jones said.
“Trey’s doing the right thing, man. Don’t take no advice from me. I did things a little different.
“Trey, you in a good place.”;
The Chiefs have enough cap space to sign Smith to a contract extension.
With his franchise tag already included, the team has around $11 million free to use.
It is possible that they could even free up more cap space by signing Smith to a new deal.
The Chiefs will have to get this done by Tuesday or else they’re stuck with the franchise tag for the whole year.
