Smith’s last ride with Chiefs?
Team faces tough call after veteran QB’s career season
For most quarterbacks, the type of season Alex Smith had would result in a contract extension.
The Kansas City Chiefs veteran set career highs in passing yards (4,042), touchdown passes (26) and passer rating (a league-high 104.7). He also discovered a deep game that largely had been missing earlier in his career and matched his career low for interceptions for a full season (five) while leading his team to its second consecutive AFC West title.
Ordinarily, those accomplishments might seem like enough to persuade his bosses to pay him a $2 million bonus in March and the rest of his $14.5 million salary due next season.
But this has been no ordinary run for Smith, who has played all year knowing it might be his final go-round in Kansas City, thanks to the arrival of first-round pick Patrick Mahomes in April.
The playoffs, starting with Saturday’s wild-card game against Tennessee, could be the final chapter in his Chiefs tenure.
He has played well enough already this season to make the decision for coach Andy Reid and general manager Brett Veach very difficult, and a deep postseason run could make it even more so.
“You know how fast it can go, so just make the most of every opportunity, every game. It’s no different right now,” Smith said Tuesday. “This is a big opportunity in front of us.”
Smith’s career has been long enough that he can speak with authority about the uncertainty that comes year to year for quarterbacks.
He was the No. 1 overall pick by the San Francisco 49ers in 2005 and struggled early in his career with injuries while playing for subpar teams. He finally blossomed under Jim Harbaugh only to lose his job to Colin Kaepernick in 2012 after suffering a concussion.
Reid made trading for Smith his first major move after he was hired by the Chiefs in 2013.
In the five seasons since, Smith has won 50 regular-season games (with 26 losses and one tie) and moved into third place on the franchise’s passing yardage list, behind Len Dawson and Trent Green.
Yet he’s received limited credit for Kansas City’s recent success, which includes playoff appearances in four of the last five years.
The surprising decision to move up to draft Mahomes with the No. 10 pick last year — it was the first time the Chiefs had selected a quarterback in the first round since 1983 — was a sign Smith might be headed elsewhere after the season.
“When the draft happened, you deal with that. At that point, you move on,” Smith said. “There were no expectations beyond this year anyway, right? There’s no guarantees.”
It could have been an awkward situation all year, especially after Mahomes’ impressive performance in training camp and the preseason.
But Smith ensured there would be no controversy. He played so well in the first month of the season, especially in high-profile wins against the Patriots and Redskins, that Mahomes became an afterthought.
Smith did not ice out the rookie who is on track to take his job in the near future. When Mahomes made his first career start Sunday in Denver while Smith and the other Chiefs starters rested, the veteran was almost like an extra coach.
“He really showed me what he was seeing out there, showed me things he was recognizing and giving me tips. You really can’t ask for a guy to be in front of you as well as Alex has been for me,” Mahomes said.
For the Chiefs, Sunday’s regular-season finale in Denver — a 27-24 win capped by Mahomes leading a gamewinning field goal drive — was perhaps a look to the future.
But Smith is still the team’s present, and no one inside the Chiefs locker room questions it, players said.
Offensive guard Mitchell Schwartz rattled off statistics to emphasize just how well Smith has played for Kansas City this year, noting the quarterback’s third consecutive season with at least 3,000 passing yards and fewer than 10 interceptions.
Schwartz also pointed out that the Chiefs are just the second team in NFL history to have a 4,000-yard passer in Smith along with a running back (Kareem Hunt), wide receiver (Tyreek Hill) and tight end (Travis Kelce) who all reached the 1,000-yard bench mark.
“Hopefully the media doesn’t go crazy with the whole Mahomes thing,” Schwartz said.
“Alex has had a tremendous season, he’s had a tremendous five years here, so I think that’s the important part. Obviously he’s our guy.”