PFF Names Chiefs RG Trey Smith Team's 'Most Underrated' Player

Smith made the list of the most underrated players for each team, a testament to his quiet but successful 2023-24 campaign.

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas City Chiefs' interior offensive line trio of Joe Thuney, Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith is widely regarded as one of the very best in the entire NFL. The first two get most of the league-wide praise, however, as Thuney and Humphrey are All-Pro and Pro Bowl players.

That doesn't mean Smith doesn't hold his own, though. The former sixth-round pick continues to turn in solid seasons for Kansas City, and he's coming off another good one en route to a second Super Bowl win in a row. With him stringing together quality outings on the national stage, he's getting some flowers this offseason.

In a recent article for Pro Football Focus, Zoltán Buday listed the most underrated player for all 32 NFL teams. Smith was the Chiefs' representative, with Buday tipping his cap to the three-year veteran for his consistency and availability.

"The Chiefs' offensive tackles got a lot of attention last season for all the wrong reasons, while Joe Thuney and Creed Humphrey continued to excel on the interior," Buday wrote. "But there was not much talk of right guard Trey Smith’s performance despite him being one of the most consistent guards in the league. He is one of just three players to have played more than 4,000 snaps over the past three seasons — with Humphrey and Patrick Mahomes being the other two — and his 76.5 overall grade over that span ranks 11th among guards."

Smith is an iron man of sorts for Kansas City along the offensive line. In just three seasons since entering the league, he's started 50 regular-season contests and another 10 in the playoffs. The former Tennessee Volunteers standout played 100% of available snaps as a rookie, then followed up with 96% in his games played for 2022 and 2023. In all, he's credited with over 4,000 offensive snaps played dating back to his rookie year when including the playoffs.

As Buday mentioned, Smith's PFF grading is also remarkably steady. His composite offensive marks for 2021 (72.7), 2022 (72.3) and 2023 (74.6) are all close together, as are his pressures allowed (43 and 41) for this past season and the year prior. In 2023-24, he posted just four games with an overall grade worse than 60.

Smith did have some rough moments last season, namely struggling with penalties (sixth among guards) and allowing pressure (eighth). With that said, he remained one of the best in all of football in the run game. He represents everything the Chiefs look for in a road-grading guard, bringing a unique mentality and good physical gifts to the table and combining them with impressive technique.

With the guard market recently exploding, it's worth questioning whether Smith will stay in Kansas City long-term. After all, he's entering the final year of his rookie contract and could price himself out of the club's ideal range. Considering others like Humphrey and Nick Bolton are up for extensions as well, it isn't easy to envision all three getting inked to new deals.

In the meantime, the back-to-back champions will enjoy having a quality and cost-controlled guard for at least one more campaign. Smith is a good supporting piece, especially as the organization chases an elusive three-peat.

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