Trey Smith Shares Reaction to Signing Historic Contract

Trey Smith was coasting like a big feather in a cool, Midwest breeze. He talked about viewing the franchise tag as a mark of honor, how he leaned on his mentors as the July 15 contract deadline approached, and how much he loved his job and loved the Chiefs.

Then, he thought about his mom.

Speaking for the first time since becoming the NFL’s highest-paid interior offensive lineman, Smith needed a few seconds to describe what that new contract last week meant in the context of his family.

“Yeah, man … my bad,” Smith said after practice Tuesday, fighting back tears. “… I lost my mom when I was 15, and I made two promises to her: Get my degree and play in the NFL."

“I didn’t promise her I'd be the highest paid. But I made a promise, man, and my parents sacrificed so much for me to be here, so much. And to have that moment with them, it's special. It's special, and it's something I won't take for granted.”

The Chiefs showed they don’t take Smith for granted, signing him to a four-year, $94 million deal just hours before the July 15 deadline. Had he not reached that agreement last week, he would’ve played the season under the franchise tag and risked the possibility of leaving in free agency this March.

But Smith got the call, and he got it while getting his haircut at the same Overland Park, Kan., establishment that renovated Patrick Mahomes less than 48 hours after the Super Bowl loss to Philadelphia.

“Yeah, I was actually in my barber shop,” Smith said. “Shout out to DeJuan Bonds, Purple Label.
I was getting my haircut and I got the call, so let’s just say I was in and out really fast. … Going the speed limit, though.”

Smith was fast, however, to FaceTime his father and sister.

“She's just super excited,” Smith said, “just talking to them, just really happy, man. We went through a lot, and being able to sort of put an exclamation point on that, there's still work to do, but it was just an amazing time to spend with both my dad and my sister.”

Smith has been through a lot, too, especially since his sophomore year in college at Tennessee. That’s when team doctors ruled him out indefinitely after discovering blood clots in Smith’s lungs.

And even though Smith returned and played all of his junior and senior seasons for the Volunteers, the blood clots kept NFL teams from selecting him until Day 3 of the 2021 draft. Brett Veach and Andy Reid took him in the sixth round and never looked back.

Four years later, Smith finds himself as the veteran mentoring a rookie navigating a similar road. Josh Simmons began his final season at Ohio State expecting to go in the top 10 of the 2025 draft.

But after an October knee injury, Simmons fell to the Chiefs at 32nd overall. Simmons took the first reps of camp, however, lining up at left tackle next to Kingsley Suamataia at left guard, Creed Humphrey at center, Smith at right guard and Jaylon Moore at right tackle.

Smith shared the advice he had for Simmons, the same advice Smith gave himself as a rookie.

“Just apply everything you can to your game,” Smith said. “It's a marathon, not a sprint. Everything's not going to come at once; it's going to take time to develop those habits.

“Saint Joe's is one of the hardest training camps in the NFL. It's going to be miserable every single day and just get used to it, man. But at the end of the day, you just got to keep fighting, you got to keep punching, you got to keep swinging day after day after day, and just keep stacking and keep building. And when the season comes around, you're ready.”

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