Kansas City Chiefs Linemen Creed Humphrey And Trey Smith Use T-Shirts To Build Brand

NFL skill players usually receive all of the attention, but on the Kansas City Chiefs, the merchandise of two second-year offensive lineman is selling briskly.

“I am all about bringing recognition and showing love to the big boys up front,” said Chiefs guard Trey Smith via email.

Smith is one of two big boys promoting his brand through a new t-shirt.

In June of 2022, Charlie Hustle, the Kansas City t-shirt company, reached out to Brian Bradtke, the marketing representative for Smith and center Creed Humphrey.

In previous years Charlie Hustle had customized popular t-shirts of Patrick Mahomes, Chris Jones and Mecole Hardman.

Humphrey was a logical choice after 610 AM Sport Radio posted a video last year, promoting Humphrey for Offensive Rookie of the Year, to the tune of the 1999 song “Higher” by the band Creed.

As part of that social media push, the #CreedIsGood slogan, which is a play on words of Gordon Gekko’s famous line from Wall Street, went viral.

Because of the fanfare around that campaign, Charlie Hustle first inquired about Humphrey but quickly realized that Smith, who lines up next to Humphrey on the right side, would be great for a t-shirt collection as well.

Smith’s shirt has a drawing of him holding of a stack of flapjacks with the slogan: “Pancake Specialist.”

“The pancake block is the ultimate end goal for offensive linemen,” Smith said.

And he did deliver one Sunday, pancaking Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive lineman Rakeem Nunez-Roches, who the Chiefs drafted in the sixth round of the 2015 NFL Draft.

Charlie Hustle came up with that pancake design and slogan, and Smith loved it.

T-shirts for both players went on sale the first week of October.

Charlie Hustle gets the majority of the revenue from the sales, but Humphrey and Smith also receive a percentage, which is greater than the typical amount derived from royalties.

Each t-shirt cost $36, and more than 100 of them have been sold so far. In fact, XXL and XXXL sizes of each player’s shirt already have sold out.

“Sales are going very, very well,” Bradtke said.

On the field the interior linemen have been successful as well. They spearheaded a running game that gained 189 yards on 37 carriers and helped the offense post 41 points against a Buccaneers defense that had been allowing just nine points per game.

“The offensive line is one of the strengths of our team,” Mahomes said. “You could tell they were ready to bounce back. They felt like they didn’t play their best in Indy, and that wasn’t who they were. And so going up against the Bucs and that great defensive line, they could kind of go out there and prove they were still top in the league.”

The interior line’s bounce-back performance, following a rushing game that netted just 58 yards the week before against the Indianapolis Colts, more resembled the performance of the 2021 unit, which had two rookies, Humphrey and Smith, start all 17 games.

Anchoring the line from Day One has led to several other business ventures for Humphrey. As part of Boulevard Brewing Company’s “Protect Your Tailgate” campaign, he was slated to co-host a tailgate gala to help raise funds for KC Pet Project.

Humphrey, who wears No. 52, is also an ambassador for Jack Stack Barbecue, which offers a 52’s KC ’Cue Combo, featuring pork spare ribs, beef burnt ends, fire-kissed wings, hickory pit beans, cheesy corn bake and a commemorative Humphrey glass for $60.

While Humphrey has opted to promote the savory, Smith has opted for the sweet with his pancake t-shirt.

“My collaboration with Charlie Hustle was a fun project,” Smith said.