Kansas City Chiefs guard Trey Smith knew nothing but success in his first four NFL seasons. After entering the league in 2021 as a sixth-round selection out of Tennessee, he saw his new team advance to the AFC Championship game as a rookie. Two Super Bowl victories and another appearance followed over the next three seasons.
Appearing on Monday’s episode of the “Ross Tucker Football Podcast,” Smith admitted to the former player and current CBS analyst that he has not known what to do this offseason,
after the Chiefs missed the playoffs for the first time in his career.
Although he knows the time off can benefit his body after four extended seasons to begin his career, Smith is ready to get back at it.
“I’m excited to get back to work, period,” remarked Smith. “This is the longest offseason I’ve had. I’m already a little bit antsy. I want to get back to lifting. I want to get back to lifting and stuff. I’m trying to be smart and let the body heal and let everything take its course.”
As for what went wrong in 2025, Smith feels the Chiefs simply did not play to their standard and made too many errors. The introspective guard did not let himself off the hook.
“I can speak for myself,” he remarked, “I feel like being more detail oriented [and] paying attention to the smaller things. Being more consistent — especially with my game. At the end of the day, just approaching it with a renewed sense of excitement. I feel like for us, just going out there and being the best version of ourselves — and not necessarily reinventing the wheel — but doing the little things right and being detailed in our work. There’s so much parity in the NFL, and you’re margin for error is so small. You can’t make mistakes like that. I think for us, it’s just cleaning up our game and executing higher.”
The Chiefs also appear to have been frustrated with self-inflicted errors from last season. One of the more notable coaching staff moves saw the team bring back long-time offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy to replace Matt Nagy. Bieniemy held multiple roles on Kansas City’s staff from 2013 to 2022 and developed a reputation for vocally correcting player mistakes and for aggressively addressing concerns.
Having worked under Bieniemy for two seasons, Smith knows what to expect.
“Energy, passion and discipline,” Smith identified. “He’s going to be screaming ‘Finish!’ every single day. I already know when we get there in OTAs, he’s going to be intense. He’s going to be ready. I think he’s already ready, to be honest. I love EB. I had him a couple of years. This is a guy that you can tell what type of player he was. He has a certain standard of excellence that he wants to uphold. I’m really excited to get back to work with him and see what the season holds.”
That will suit Smith, who has gone from the player from Jackson, Tennessee, criticized by high school coaches for being too nice, to the highest-paid guard in the NFL. Smith recalled to Tucker being told in college recruitment the importance of how an offensive lineman is perceived as a finisher.
“I took that to heart,” Smith recalled. “I wanted to make sure I was one of the nastiest finishers. I wanted to make sure I was the most physical. I wanted to be the most aggressive guy. I wanted my coaches to say ‘Whoa!’ rather than ‘Go.’ I just wanted to be a guy that’s like, ‘Man, this guy is going to strain his nuts off every single time he steps on this field — and he’s not going to let anybody mess with him. ‘”
