Trey Smith knows exactly what it looks like when a rookie offensive lineman is thrown into the deep end with the Chiefs. He remembers it because he lived it.
Standing in a white tent near the practice field in St. Joseph, Smith was asked to think back to his first training camp here. His answer came fast.
“You’re taking me back,” he says, “to a nightmare.”
The nightmare, of course, was not where Smith ended up. Last year he signed a deal that made him the highest-compensated right guard in the NFL, and he’s now a two-time Pro Bowl player. The rough part was the beginning: the inconsistency, the losses, the early lessons in trying to handle prime Chris Jones right out of the gate.
The Chiefs made their decision seconds into that first camp. A sixth-round pick was going to start. The team would ride out the growing pains.
That same approach is back in play this summer, only the name and the path are different.
Kahlil Benson has become the early leader for the right tackle job, and his rise has come from far less public expectation than Smith’s did. Benson went undrafted after helping Indiana win a national championship a few months earlier.
He wasn’t even signed right after the draft, instead joining Kansas City on a rookie tryout. He earned a contract, kept his place when the veterans arrived, and now he’s in the mix to protect Patrick Mahomes in Week 1.
So far, Benson has taken the most snaps with the first team offense. Jaylon Moore, who looked like the starter when offseason work began, has also rotated in with the starters. Moore has spent time at both left and right tackle with the second unit, which could point to a swing-tackle role down the road.
For now, though, this feels like Benson’s job to lose.
That’s not exactly unfamiliar territory inside this offensive line room. The Chiefs have been here before, and they’ve built around that kind of early pressure.
To Benson’s left on the top unit is Kingsley Suamataia, who opened his rookie season at tackle before moving to guard in his second year. Inside of him are Creed Humphrey and Smith, both of whom won starting jobs as rookies and held them all the way through the Super Bowl. On the blindside is Josh Simmons, who beat out Moore for the left tackle spot last year as a rookie.
Everyone around Benson has been through some version of this.
“Trial by fire,” Smith said, “is the best way to put it.”
The challenge now is whether Benson can keep the fire from getting out of control.
Monday’s first padded practice was a rough one. He lost more than his share of one-on-one reps.
That said, the Chiefs didn’t pull back on him. They kept him with the starters Tuesday and Wednesday, and he answered better.
One bad practice is not the whole story. A run of them would be.
That’s the line the Chiefs are trying to walk, and Reid made the standard clear.
“Not to make the same mistake twice - that’s what I’m looking for,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said. “We’ll give you a chance here to learn, but if you start making (mistakes) consistently, then we’ve got a problem.
But he’s been doing a good job. There’s a hiccup here or there, but he fixes them normally.”
There’s a bigger reason this matters, too. The Chiefs are looking for a low-cost answer along the line. They’ve already paid Smith and Humphrey at the top of the market for their positions, used a first-round pick on Simmons, and spent a second-round pick on Suamataia.
Right tackle is where they need value.
And beyond this season, there’s another layer. Moore’s contract runs out after the year, which means the Chiefs will be shopping for a right tackle next offseason unless Benson forces his way into the picture. If he does, and if he holds up, Kansas City can put its money somewhere else - maybe in the wide receiver market, where it never comes cheap.
So the job matters now, and it matters later. That’s the reality of this camp battle.
The Chiefs know what they have in Moore. They seem to think Benson might be more. They’re not ready to say it outright yet, but they’re close enough to keep giving him the reps.
That makes this more than just another competition in August. It’s a chance to uncover another starter the hard way, the same way they’ve done it before.
And for this offensive line, that’s not a detour. It’s part of the plan.
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