A former Super Bowl rival, Donovan Smith is coming to Kansas City Chiefs to help their dream of becoming world champions again.
The veteran Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive tackle Smith is to sign a one-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs which is worth up to $9 million, NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported on Wednesday, via a source.
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After a second-round selection of the Buccaneers in 2015, Donovan Smith constantly graced the Tampa starting lineup over the past eight seasons. He began 124 career games, with 13 last year when he suffered an elbow and foot injury.
Smith who ranked 64th position as a free agent in Gregg Rosenthal’s top 101 list, played a crucial role in Tampa Bay emerging as Super Bowl champions in the 2020 season, which involved the Buccaneers led by Tom Brady defeating the Chiefs led by Patrick Mahomes. Now, the question remains if Smith will go from protecting Brady to defending Mahomes. If everything goes as planned, Smith will oversee the left tackle spot, Pelissero said.
Another large signing for Kansas City this offseason was bringing in ex-Jacksonville Jaguars right tackle Jawaan Taylor. Taylor was expected to move to left tackle after signing a four-year, $80 million deal.
Early this week, in a post-draft news conference, the general manager for the Chiefs, Brett Veach affirmed that Taylor would “run left tackle with the ones,” while Lucas Niang and third-round pick Wanya Morris would compete for the right tackle spot.
Adding Donovan Smith to the lineup would change some of the Chiefs’ plans.
No matter how it plays out, the Chiefs have acquired a 29-year-old veteran tackle who is championship material to their plans for a repeat.
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