No one can say for sure if the Kansas City Chiefs will turn to any more free-agent options when it comes to offensive line needs or depth. However, if the team was hoping the market would hold soem considerations for them following the 2025 NFL Draft, the selections thinned out a bit on Tuesday with the retirement of Tyron Smith.
The longtime Dallas Cowboys lineman announced his retirement from the National Football League after 14 total seasons and 8 Pro Bowls.
It's not as if anyone ever connected the Kansas City Chiefs to Smith. Rather, the important factor here for Kansas City is that Smith is no longer a possibility for any team seeking potential veteran help at tackle for the rest of the offseason. And that could make things dicey for other candidates as well.
Smith was considered a potential signing for teams looking to the free-agent shelves for experience at tackle in the same way that names like D.J. Humphries, Donovan Smith, Joe Noteboom, or Jedrick Wills are thrown around.
The Chiefs' choices for potential veteran tackles are depleting at this point.
Most free agents are likely to find themselves waiting for a few weeks until the dust settles on the NFL draft. Many teams will want to hold open spaces on the roster for the draft to fall in certain ways. A team like the Chiefs might very well add a top tackle prospect to the mix to compete with Jaylon Moore, who signed a two-year deal in March.
If the Chiefs manage to go without taking a tackle in this year's rookie class, however, it's quite likely that they could turn to Humphries, who joined the team as a late-season signing in 2024, as insurance behind Moore. The Chiefs are already punting on Kingsley Suamataia, last year's second-round choice, as a potential tackle, so there's room for someone else to join the mix of competitors.
Without Smith, other teams who were eyeing the players available will now turn to those still hungry to play another season. That means the Chiefs might have increased competition for the services of someone like Humphries after the news of Smith's retirement.
