The Kansas City Chiefs have reportedly reached an agreement with offensive tackle Donovan Smith on a one-year deal worth up to $9 million.
In a bit of surprising news that came from a report from NFL reporter Tom Pelissero on Wednesday night, the Kansas City Chiefs have followed up a weekend filled with activity in the 2023 NFL Draft with a sizable free agent signing for offensive tackle Donovan Smith. His deal is only for one year but it’s worth up to $9 million.
The signing of Smith comes as a bit of a surprise given that the Chiefs have already made two significant investments at offensive tackle so far this offseason. The Chiefs opened free agency with a four-year contract worth up to $80 million to lure Jawaan Taylor away from the Jacksonville Jaguars. Over the weekend, they chose to use a third-round pick on Wanya Morris, a promising tackle prospect out of Oklahoma.
Together, Taylor and Morris potentially gave the Chiefs a new starting set of tackles to go with holdovers like Lucas Niang, who was expected to compete at right tackle, and Prince Tega Wanogho.
The signing of Smith is so intriguing here because Smith has been a fixture at left tackle for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the last eight seasons with 124 starts in 124 games under his belt—not to mention the deep postseason runs blocking for Tom Brady in that span. It will be interesting to see how this affects the position battles or if there is further news to be learned. For now, at least, the Chiefs are very deep at tackle with significant security outside in case something goes wrong over a long season.