The contract details are officially in for new Kansas City Chiefs left tackle Donovan Smith and the deal is looking much more team-friendly than initially reported.
According to the folks at Over The Cap, the 30-year-old NFL veteran will earn a $1.98 million base salary in 2023, which is completely guaranteed at signing. He’s set to earn $1.02M in per-game roster bonus as well, which puts his 2023 salary cap number at $2.76M. That’ll put him at the 16th-ranked salary cap hit on the team in 2023 as things currently stand.
The 2023 cash payout to Smith totals $3M before incentives. The contract ranks at 35 of 110 possible left tackle contracts in Over The Cap’s database. And yes — Smith is set to play left tackle in Kansas City according to head coach Andy Reid. Things could certainly change as it’s only May, but for now, it appears he’ll be the starter.
Smith’s contract could reportedly earn “up to $9 million” with incentives. The details of those incentives aren’t currently known, but we can expect they’re not-likely-to-be-earned (NLTBE), which means they’ll count toward the 2024 salary cap for Kansas City.
The incentives will likely have to do with both playtime and the playoffs. Keep in mind that Smith didn’t miss a game during his first four seasons in the NFL and he’s appeared in seven career playoff games with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
