The Kansas City Chiefs have taken one step in the right direction this off-season with the signing of Andy Reid as their head coach, and early Wednesday afternoon they took another one when they acquired Alex Smith from the San Francisco 49ers for a couple of draft picks.
Smith had tallied 1,737 passing yards to go along with 13 touchdowns before suffering a concussion on November 11th against division rival St. Louis, which allowed Colin Kaepernick to come in and dazzle everyone, all while essentially taking Smith’s job. Smith, who was the number one overall pick in the 2005 will go to a team that possesses this years number one overall selection.
There has been a lot of speculation as to who they will take will this pick and I think that with Smith coming in, Luke Joeckel, left tackle out of Texas A&M, would be in Kansas City’s best interest. Joeckel is a big guy that did a good job protecting Johnny Manziel last year and I think his game will transfer well to the NFL.
However, before we label this trade a success, remember that we saw Matt Cassel go from New England to Kansas City four years ago with expectations of being the franchise guy. We all know how that has gone as they will now cut him after acquiring Smith. Hopefully this same thing doesn’t happen to Smith because this is definitely a team that is in the rebuilding process and he is a key piece to that.
Smith, 28, has been better in his last couple of years than when he entered the league. He has thrown for 14,280 yards, 81 touchdowns, and 63 interceptions in 80 career games.
Kansas City gets a guy who is an excellent game manager and in my mind will make this team more consistent. He isn’t someone who is a big play maker, but he rarely turns the ball over and has an excellent completion percentage.
For San Francisco, this means that Colin Kaepernick is now your franchise quarterback.
Kaepernick led the 49ers to the Super Bowl this past year. He played in 13 games this season, throwing for 1,814 yards, 10 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions. Kaepernick also has the ability to run the football about as well as any quarterback in the NFL.
Daring move for the 49ers, but they feel, as well as many other people, that his benefits them in the long run. This also gives San Francisco 15 picks in this years draft to help them build more around Kaepernick and others as they look to get back to the Super Bowl.
Smith had made many friends in San Fran during his time there and he will be dearly missed as both a person in the 49ers locker room and as a very solid quarterback.
