Chiefs News: Extending Creed Humphrey & Trey Smith identified as needs

On Thursday, longtime NFL writer Aaron Schatz — now with ESPN — published an article describing one more move every NFL team should make before the season begins.

For the Kansas City Chiefs, Schatz proposed extending the contracts of two starters selected in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Extend center Creed Humphrey and right guard Trey Smith

This one is pretty easy. The Chiefs may have the best interior offensive line in the league now that Jason Kelce has retired, but both Humphrey and Smith see their contracts end after the 2024 season. Kansas City needs to lock down its offensive line for the next few years and keep Humphrey and Smith through their primes.

Takeaway

It’s impossible to argue that Humphrey or Smith have not earned the opportunity for a second NFL contract. The only question is whether the Chiefs will be the team to offer it.

Rodney Hudson and Mitch Morse — the last two second-round centers Kansas City has acquired — signed big contracts with new teams after their rookie contracts ended. After allowing Hudson to sign with the Oakland Raiders in 2015, general manager John Dorsey selected Morse in that spring’s draft. Brett Veach permitted Morse to sign with the Buffalo Bills in 2019, filling the position with free agents until he took Humphrey in 2021.

Smith’s selection in 2021’s seventh round was evidence that Veach didn’t necessarily believe he needed to use a high draft pick to acquire a quality player — although Smith was a special case. His draft stock had plummeted after being diagnosed with a medical condition. Before that, the last time the Chiefs had an early-round guard coming off a rookie contract was Jeff Allen in 2016. That year, Dorsey allowed Allen to jump to the Houston Texans — but two seasons later, Veach brought Allen back as a reserve player.

So there’s not a lot of history suggesting that Kansas City will extend the contracts of either Humphrey or Smith. The team also drafted two interior players in 2024: Penn State center Hunter Nourzad and Holy Cross guard C.J. Hanson. The Chiefs may prefer to wait and see what they have in those two players before extending Humphrey or Smith.

So while Schatz correctly identifies Humphrey and Smith as players who will continue to play in the NFL, it’s not certain the Chiefs will extend their contracts — either before or after the season.