Chiefs have clear next step after Trent McDuffie, George Karlaftis' fifth-year options that could make 2025 offseason a slam dunk

The Kansas City Chiefs are set to pick up fifth-year options on their two first-round 2022 NFL Draft picks in Trent McDuffie and George Karlaftis.

It was an important order of offseason business for the Chiefs as they seek to lock up the core of their defense. The team had a May 1 deadline to pick up both fifth-year options and ensure that McDuffie and Karlaftis would remain in Kansas City through the 2026 NFL season. This is virtually a stall tactic as the team works toward long-term contract extensions for both players. By this time next year, both players could have deals that will keep them with the Chiefs for 4-5 years. 

What's the next step to ensuring that happens, though? It starts with what happens next for a sixth-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. 

All roads begin with what happens next for Chiefs RG Trey Smith

The Chiefs used the franchise tag on RG Trey Smith this offseason, sticking him with a massive, fully guaranteed $23.4 million salary for the 2025 NFL season. The goal of the franchise tag has been to use it as a tool to agree upon a long-term contract extension eventually. 

Smith has made it clear that he loves Kansas City and wants to be with the Chiefs long term, but ultimately, that's up to Brett Veach and Smith's agents, Tory Dandy and Jimmy Sexton, to decide. Those negotiations were paused with CAA representing several players in the 2025 NFL Draft. Now that the draft is over, negotiations over a long-term deal could soon pick back up.

"My guess is once the draft’s over and our focus is back on taking care of the players that are here and trying to get those guys locked up," Veach said ahead of the draft. "CAA, on their end, they are one of the leading agencies in regards to the players they produce every year, so I’m sure once things settle down on both ends, we’ll be in a position to continue this dialogue and hopefully make some progress there." 

At this point, it just feels like a matter of time before a deal gets done. A long-term extension for Smith will give the Chiefs a better idea of the money (cash and cap) available in 2026 and beyond to negotiate long-term deals with McDuffie and Karlaftis. It'll have a domino effect in that regard, and it could be the key to getting one of McDuffie and Karlaftis on a long-term deal before the start of the 2025 NFL season. 

The benefit of the fifth-year options that were just enacted is that they can help lower those Year 1 salary cap numbers, which might make it easier for K.C. to absorb bigger cap hits for Smith in 2025 and 2026.