Why the Kansas City Chiefs Restructured Trey Smith’s Contract

Right ahead of the 2026 NFL season getting underway, the Kansas City Chiefs went on to make some financial room by restructuring Trey Smith’s contract.

The Chiefs did so by converting $18.535 million of Smith’s salary into a signing bonus. This move created $12.4 million in cap relief, but it also pushed his cap hit to roughly $34.2 million in 2027 and 2028.

What the Kansas City Chiefs Can Now Do With the Financial Flexibility

The Chiefs still have some more financial room, but some of that $12.3 million created was to make room for injured players, the active roster payouts, practice squad players, and dead money. After all that the Chiefs are roughly looking at $3.3 million according to Spotrac.

With the remaining financial room the Chiefs do have left they should be looking for more offensive line depth with Josh Simmons currently out of practice. They could also target an edge rusher.

This isn’t enough for Kansas City to make a blockbuster move, but it was enough for them to better build the roster out for 2026.