A new face in the trenches! Let's officially welcome OT @DSmith_76 to the Kingdom 👋 pic.twitter.com/Mx12jM2hQg
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) May 4, 2023
The Kansas City Chiefs officially signed former Tampa Bay Buccaneers LT Donovan Smith on Thursday.
This move, along with the move to re-sign RB Jerick McKinnon, signals that the post-draft plan for Kansas City is currently underway. During his media availability on Monday, Chiefs GM Brett Veach explained exactly what that plan looks like.
“We’re always trying to improve this roster and we’ll continue to monitor the names that are on the streets,” Veach told reporters. “There will be a handful of guys that have (rookie) minicamp invites and we’ll get a list of those names and you know if we can improve the 90th person on our roster, we’ll do that. That will be no different to how we approach this summer. We’ll get to training camp and we’ll start logging the tape on the preseason games and the position battles there. I feel like we have the roster to compete to win games, but there’s always room to improve and we’ll continue to do that from now until the end of cutdown day.”
Smart NFL teams continue building out their rosters at every possible chance they get during the offseason and even during the course of the season. Whether that happens via free agency, trade, or tryouts during minicamps and OTAs. If there’s an opportunity where you can improve a spot on your roster as an NFL GM, you do so without hesitation. Anytime you can add a player at a premium position with nearly 8,500 career snaps and a Super Bowl win on his resume, it’s smart business to do it.
When you consider the amount of experience the Chiefs currently have at the left tackle position, this signing makes even more sense. No one on the roster has played more than 18 snaps of NFL experience at the left tackle position. Even if the Chiefs do believe in Jawaan Taylor’s ability to make the switch at left tackle, they were an injury away from rookie Wanya Morris, Lucas Niang, Prince Tega Wanogho or Darian Kinnard protecting your half-billion-dollar quarterback.
Maybe one or two of those players proves during the offseason that they’re deserving of that responsibility, but given what we know right now, that’s got to be an uneasy feeling. Adding experience at the position will only increase the level of confidence and competition throughout the entire position group.
