With the news about Mike Vrabel's apparent focus in free agency expected to be on the defensive and offensive lines, the top players at those positions set to hit the free agent market rise to the top of the list of priorities.
That puts many players at the top of the list as those they'll likely prioritize with their projected $127 million in cap space, somewhat replicating the Eagles' success with their roster over the last few years. We saw the benefit of spending and drafting wisely in the trenches in this year's Super Bowl, making it even more sensible that the Patriots want to boost those rosters.
Because of that, they were considered one of the best landing spots for pending free agent guard Trey Smith, who was expected to test the market after leaving the Chiefs. He has been protecting quarterback Patrick Mahomes for the past few seasons, so he would inevitably garner a lot of interest and a big payday, which the Patriots can afford.
But it now looks like they won't have the chance to talk to him this offseason.
The Patriots can cross another hopeful free agent signing off the list
Free agency begins in less than two weeks, and many teams are scrambling to decide who to franchise tag or extend before those players can speak with other teams.
That now (unfortunately) includes the Chiefs' starting guard, who won't be on the Patriots radar unless he is eventually put up for a tag and trade. NFL insider Ian Rapoport broke the news on Thursday afternoon, squashing potential plans the new regime expected to follow next month.
The #Chiefs are planning to franchise tag star guard Trey Smith, sources say. An intriguing move, as KC keeps one of its best players for $23.4M on a 1-year, fully guaranteed deal. pic.twitter.com/IOnctKg7WE
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 27, 2025
It's a loss for the Patriots, similar to the situation between the Bengals and Tee Higgins. However, the bright side of this with Smith is that New England already has a solid right guard on the roster in Mike Onwenu.
If they can keep him at that position during the 2025 season, adding Smith wouldn't have made much sense anyway. So missing out on him now isn't as big of a deal as it could have been.
At the same time, however, it's not great to see how many players they were expected to be in on are either being franchise tagged or receiving extensions. It's already eliminating players that would have been significant upgrades to the roster and hopefully, that pattern won't continue much longer, if at all.