Coming into the offseason, or approximately six months ago, the Kansas City Chiefs had some internal business to attend to—namely to hopefully come together on a series of long-term contract extensions with valuable young players in-house.
With the season upon us and Week 1 in the books for the Chiefs, two players are still waiting for a place to sit when the music has stopped—or at least it's been paused. Both linebacker Nick Bolton and right guard Trey Smith are waiting for the contracts they were projected to receive.
When the Chiefs started to attend to the business of roster construction and their financial commitments going forward, both Bolton and Smith were atop of a list given to reporters by Chiefs general manager Brett Veach that also included kicker Harrison Butker and center Creed Humphrey. The goal, per Veach, was to find a way to sign each player to a long-term deal to keep them in Kansas City beyond their contract year.
For now, Trey Smith and Nick Bolton are going to have to play without any long-term security under their belts.
Such negotiations can be tough with so many moving parts, however, and Chiefs Kingdom has watched how things can unfold in various directions in the last few years. Wide receiver Tyreek Hill went from a likely extension recipient to a traded asset due to the way the market reset during negotiations. The Chiefs were there and back again with Chris Jones for what felt like the longest negotating period in recent team history.
The deals started to come for the Chiefs in mid-summer with the signing of Butker to a new four-year extension. From there, Veach got around to signing Humphrey in late August to a record-setting deal at the center position. Then on Thursday, shortly before the Chiefs were set to kick off against the Baltimore Ravens, news of another contract extension hit the wire—but not for one of the expected candidates.
Instead, it was tight end Noah Gray who was on the receiving end of a three-year deal worth up to $19.5 million with $10 million guaranteed. On its own, it's a smart move by the Chiefs to lock up Gray for several reasons. Within the bigger picture, however, it's at least a surprising turn with other players waiting. If these things take time and effort, that means time and effort were spent away from deals for either Smith or Bolton.
While it's great news for the Chiefs to have signed their kicker, center, and tight end to new deals to keep them around for years to come, it also leaves us wondering about the futures of both Bolton and Smtih when it comes to the Chiefs.
Of course, the Chiefs can pick up negotiations whenever they want, so it needs to be made clear that it's not as if a deadline has passed or that any player has suggested they are upset with the way things have played out. Bolton and Smith are essential players on a Super Bowl contender and there's no doubt the Chiefs value them as such. It's possible, then, that the Chiefs find a way agree to terms on a new deal with the season started.
But here's what we've seen in the past: most deals are done in the quieter moments of the NFL's schedule and a lot of players and teams like to shelve negotiations until after a season so as not to become a distraction in the interim. If the sides decide to do that here, it could mean the Chiefs are open to allowing the market to dictate the terms on each player instead of bidding against themselves.
Then again, seeing how the guard market turned this offseason, it's clearly going to cost the Chiefs to get something done here. Perhaps the lack of a deal then for either player or both comes down to the fact that wanting a long-term deal and being able to agree on its terms are two completely different things. For now, Bolton and Smith will have to wait and see how the Chiefs warm up to their demands or whether everyone is done talking for now.