The Kansas City Chiefs undoubtedly need help at offensive tackle. Most NFL mock drafts have the Chiefs grabbing an offensive tackle in the first round like Jonathan Martin of Stanford or Riley Reiff of Iowa to supplant Barry Richardson on the right side of the Chiefs front line. That said, some possible answers might come from the free agent market instead -- perhaps with the reported likely release of Jason Smith from the St. Louis Rams.
Mike Florio is reporting that the Rams are likely to release Smith sometime soon if he won't take a massive pay cut. He writes, "Drafted as a left tackle, Smith has landed on the right side. He soon will be landing on waivers, unless he agrees to a dramatic reduction in his salary. Per a league source, Smith will face the time-honored take-a-pay-cut-or-take-a-hike ultimatum in the offseason, given that (per NFLPA records) Smith is due to earn a base salary of $10 million in 2012. With only $1 million of it guaranteed, the Rams won’t hesitate to dump Smith, if he won’t dump much of his scheduled pay."
Smith certainly hasn't worked out like many hope, but these sorts of project players do not have to be lost causes. Instead a change of scenery can work well in the right instance and proper coaching and schemes play a major factor as well. Smith obviously has loads of potential to validate such a high selection and it might provide the kind of low-cost/high-reward move to pay dividends for the Chiefs.
As for Smith's interest in the Chiefs, he'd be coming to a strong offense with several skill players and a division where anything is up for grabs. He would have a great opportunity to compete for playing time, yet it would be a low-pressure market where the fans are great and he could rebuild his career -- even on a one year deal.