Despite his appearance at mandatory minicamp, long-term contract negotiations between franchise-tagged right guard Trey Smith and the Kansas City Chiefs are ongoing as of June 19.

Yesterday, on June 18, Sports Illustrated NFL insider Albert Breer gave his opinion on this topic, which included an explanation of why Smith has “leverage” at this time.

“I think the Chiefs get a deal done with him [before Week 1], but it won’t be easy,” Breer began.

Continuing: “The reason why is that the franchise tag for guards is not equal to the tag at other positions—because offensive linemen are grouped together, it’s actually based on what the NFL’s top tackles make. So he’s in a rare spot where his tag number ($23.4 million) is actually higher than the top of the market at his position (Philly’s Landon Dickerson makes $21 million per year).”

“Generally, the equation for tagged players is that you take the equivalent of two tags, and that becomes the guarantee over the first two years,” Breer went on to clarify. “[For Smith], that adds up to $51.5 million, or an average of $25.74 million.”

The veteran insider described this type of salary as a “massive jump over the top of the market,” and the Chiefs would likely deem this AAV as more than they’d like to commit to.

“Smith’s leverage would be that, health permitting, he could just play out this year at $23.4 million, and then force the Chiefs to tag him again or let him go to free agency next March,” Breer concluded. Adding: “Where’s the compromise? We’ll see.”

Smith’s presence at mandatory minicamp was brilliant, in a sense. With all the attention on him, and whether or not he’d take a page out of superstar defensive lineman Chris Jones’ playbook and hold out, he showed up and acted as the perfect soldier would.

Now, that puts the ball in the Chiefs’ court.

Smith did his part, at least until training camp, and now Kansas City has to do theirs. For general manager Brett Veach, that means ponying up on a contract that the integral blocker agrees with.

And while it’s unclear how much it will take for Smith to sign an extension, it is clear that the Chiefs have not offered it yet. Because if they had, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.