Did Brett Veach use Tremon Smith as a chess piece in trade negotiations?

Are the Kansas City Chiefs really this confused about Tremon Smith as a player? Or has this been the plan all along?

It’s fair to say that no one saw this coming with Tremon Smith.

Let’s start with what we do know. Smith is a 6’0″ 190-pound athlete that Dave Toub loves to tinker with. Named to the NFL All-Rookie Team as a kick returner in 2018, Smith had returns of 97, 61, and 51 yards.

In high school, Smith was the Alabama 3A Player of the Year as a quarterback. He played as the scout team quarterback when the Kansas City Chiefs prepared for the Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson in 2018.

Smith also displayed very good ball skills as a corner in college, with 15 interceptions and 53 passes defended in his career at Central Arkansas. He has tremendous long speed, clocking a 4.30 40-yard dash at the NFL combine last year. He also is an excellent gunner on special teams, so he offers great versatility, a trait Andy Reid covets.

The surprises began at training camp, when the team moved Smith to offense. By the conclusion of the preseason, with Smith accumulating just 3 carries for 5 yards in four preseason games, it seemed clear that he was not a big piece to the Chiefs offensive puzzle. For a moment he was a wide receiver. Yet after the team traded away Carlos Hyde before acquiring LeSean McCoy, Smith became a corner again.

So what changed? Are the Chiefs really this confused about Smith as a player? Or has this been the plan all along?

With Damien Williams secure as the starting running back (for now?), and McCoy, rookie Darwin Thompson and second-year man Darrel Williams all in the same room along with fullback Anthony Sherman, Smith could well have been cut from the Chiefs’ roster. Yet the team chose to keep him. Even with more running backs on the roster than cornerbacks, no one speculated that the team might move Smith back to his former position.

Smith’s move to running back even seemed a little more cemented with his number change from No. 39 to 20, a completely unnecessary and cosmetic change that further appears, in hindsight, as an attempt to draw attention to the position change.

What if the team never really intended to use Smith on offense? It’s entirely possible that, behind the scenes, Toub and Reid knew that Smith’s role would begin and end on special teams. If they could blow a little smoke by purportedly using Smith at running back, it would make it even easier to explain to someone like Bill O’Brien that there just isn’t room for Hyde on the team with “this many running backs.”

The Chiefs and Texans completed their transaction and Hyde is gone. Is it mere coincidence that Smith moved back to the defense on the same weekend? As the clock ticks before the Chiefs and Jaguars play on Sunday, it appears Smith is primed to be a special teams weapon and reserve cornerback once again. Looking back at how the last five weeks have transpired, Smith’s versatility extends further than his physical abilities.

Brett Veach can also use him at the negotiating table.

As Chiefs Kingdom clamors for one more big splash from the Chiefs front office at the cornerback position, Smith has gone back to his old #39. And it certainly makes sense to classify Smith as a corner again. It’s harder for Veach to leverage any deal for a corner with only four on the roster. Supply and demand. With only four active corners, the demand appears high. Ergo, he “moves” Smith back to corner, so that the perception of depth is ever-so-slightly less a concern for Veach while engaged in trade talks.

These are not major moves. These are the little things that experienced administrators like Veach and Reid do to provide a leg up in every negotiation.