The Chicago Bears won’t be signing offensive guard Trey Smith, or at least they won’t be doing so this offseason.
The Kansas City Chiefs announced their intentions to use the franchise tag to keep Smith off the free agent market in 2025 just five days before the deadline to do so. It was a move that many cap analysts didn’t expect Kansas City to make considering it will cost the Chiefs approximately $23.5 million.
“The Chiefs plan to franchise tag the guard, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported, per sources informed of the situation,” according to NFL.com. “[The] sides have until July 15 to hammer out a long-term solution, or Smith would play 2025 on a one-year deal.”
Kansas City is already cash-strapped with just $7.4 million in salary cap space as of Thursday, February 27. However, an expected league-wide cap bump of around $25 million may have been enough to embolden the Chiefs to overpay Smith on a one-year basis after the failures of their offensive line in the Super Bowl cost them a three-peat and NFL history earlier this month.
Chicago was the prime candidate to swoop in and steal Smith with a potential offer of over $100 million across a five-year contract, which would have made him the highest-paid player at the position in league history. The Bears have nearly $79 million in cap space as of now, which will jump to more than $100 million ahead of the official start of free agency on March 12 via the cap increase.
The news of Smith’s tagging is a monster blow to Chicago, which allowed the most sacks in the NFL last season (68) and is prioritizing an overhaul of its offensive line under new head coach Ben Johnson.
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