Former Chiefs tackle sends clear message he's ready to play football again

   

Donovan Smith sounds ready and eager for someone to sign him.

For several weeks, it felt like the Kansas City Chiefs were destined to announce a deal with Donovan Smith. Now with only a handful of games left for each team in the 2024 NFL season, Smith is left wondering whether or not he'll get a chance to return to the field at all.

Former Chiefs tackle sends clear message he's ready to play football again

Smith is a longtime left tackle who has won Super Bowl rings with two separate franchises, including last season with the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers. He's kept luminaries like Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady upright and has 136 regular season starts under his belt with another 11 games of postseason experience.

Given that he's readily available and with the amount of lacking offensive line play in the NFL these days, it makes sense that Smith sent a clear message on social media (or so it seemed) on Tuesday.

Now it's possible that we're misreading this entire scenario (although we're pretty certain that we're not). It's possible Smith is starting to count down some of his favorite Tom Hanks movies on social media (againk, we're pretty sure he's not). Consider this the disclaimer that acknowledges that all of this is conjecture on our part.

Smith himself likely has to be surprised at the lack of employment opportunities coming his way these days. The Chiefs felt like the likeliest customer after watching the left tackle woes between Wanya Morris and Kingsley Suamataia, but the Chiefs came to terms with D.J. Humphries once he was medically cleared. It was a game of musical chairs and Smith was the vet left standing when the music stopped.

It's quite possible that injuries will continue to alter the landscape for Smith and some team will come calling soon enough. This sport is unpredictable in that way and it's possible that even the Chiefs circle back around if Humphries remains injured by this latest development (a hamstring injury that required an MRI following Sunday's win over the Chargers).

For now, however, it looks like Smith is ready and waiting for some team to sign him to bolster the tackle position.