Two-time Super Bowl champion. Those are words not said much lately about former Tennessee Vols in the NFL.
Now, Kansas City Chiefs OL Trey Smith can say those words about himself.
The Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 on the final play of the first overtime period when Patrick Mahomes found WR Mecole Hardman for a 3-yard walk off touchdown.
The win locked up the Chiefs second straight Super Bowl championship, which made them the first team since the New England Patriots in 2003-04 to win back-to-back titles.
For Smith, it put him in elite company among all Tennessee football alumni with two Super Bowl championships. There have been a handful of former Vols who won it twice over the years, but Peyton Manning is the most recent to do it with rings in 2006 with the Colts and 2015 with the Broncos.
Smith started 16 regular season games and all postseason games last season, including the Chiefs' 38-35 win over the Philadelphia Eagles. He started all 17 regular season and all postseason games in 2023. He earned a solid Pro Football Focus grade of 75.3 for 2023, second highest on the Chiefs' offensive line.
Having matched Manning, Smith can join the only other Tennessee Vol in program history to reach three Super Bowl titles: Bill Bates. The former Tennessee safety won titles with Jimmy Johnson's Dallas Cowboys in the 1992, 1993, and 1995 seasons.
With the way Smith, Mahomes, and the Chiefs are rolling right now, it would be silly to bet against that happening.
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