Grading Alex Smith’s new deal with the Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs and quarterback Alex Smith finally agreed to a contract extension after talking about one for the majority of this past offseason. Smith was acquired from the San Francisco 49ers prior to last season, and he showed major improvement with the Chiefs and proved that he is capable of being a starting quarterback. Kansas City will pay Smith $68 million over the four years of the new deal, with $45 million guaranteed.

There are still some areas that Smith needs to improve in before he is able to play to his full potential, but he has taken major steps towards that potential over the last couple of seasons. He was playing great football in 2012 with the 49ers, but they gave his job away to current starter Colin Kaepernick when Smith went down with injury. Needless to say, that situation did not go over too well with Smith, and he ended up getting traded.

Kansas City was in desperate need at the quarterback position prior to the trade for Smith, and they hadn’t had consistent quarterback play for quite some time. This deal proves that the Chiefs believe that Smith is a franchise caliber quarterback, and they want to build around him for the future. His arm could use some work, but he is an excellent game manager and can make plays with his legs when needed as well.

Smith ended up playing in 15 regular season games for the Chiefs last season, throwing for 3,313 yards and 23 touchdowns. He did end up being intercepted seven times, but that is a good number for the overall stat line that he put up for the season. Arm strength is something that he could improve in order to help himself take another step, but he has enough of an arm to make the plays that NFL quarterbacks have to make.

Another area that could use some work is his leadership skills on the field. He definitely took a step forward in that aspect of his game last season, but as the starting quarterback he will need to take it even further. The Chiefs don’t have a ton of weapons for him to work with, but he does have Jamaal Charles and Dwayne Bowe to help him out this year.

Unfortunately for the Chiefs, they are in a division that features a stacked Denver Broncos team with Peyton Manning at the helm. Smith played very well in his head-to-head meetings with Manning, and came away with good performances in respectable losses to the Broncos. He led Kansas City to a 9-0 record to begin the season, and then finished the year at 11-4 before losing to the Indianapolis Colts in the playoffs in one of the most epic defensive playoff collapses.

So what grade do the Chiefs and Smith get for their new deal?

It’s hard to predict what Smith will do now that he has locked up his big contract, but he likely still has something to prove to the rest of the NFL. He is playing with a chip on his shoulder after the way that things ended with the 49ers, and the Chiefs believe that he has plenty more room to grow and improve on last season. If that does end up being the case, he is going to work his way into being a very dangerous quarterback.

Both sides did a great job of working out a deal that is fair to each party involved. Smith is getting the payday that he was looking for, while the Chiefs are leaving themselves enough flexibility to make more moves to improve their team in the future. The lack of wide receivers that the Chiefs have right now with hurt Smith’s stock this coming season, but it will be intriguing to see how he plays despite that difficulty.

Consistency at the quarterback position is very important at the professional level, and the Chiefs have decided to go all in with Smith. He is making similar money per season to quarterbacks like Ben Roethlisberger and Phillip Rivers, and is very excited about the deal. Despite signing his new contract, Smith will be expected to continue improving and earning every little bit of his money.

With all of that being said, Smith is the perfect type of quarterback to run Andy Reid’s system in Kansas City. He is a game manager that takes care of the football and performs with consistency. There will be concerns surrounding this deal over the next couple of years due to the money that the Chiefs invested, but it will likely end up working out just fine for both sides.

While Smith isn’t the type of quarterback that will lead the league in passing yards or touchdowns, he is the type of quarterback that can lead a team to a Super Bowl if the right pieces are brought in around him. The Chiefs need to add a piece or two to their offense, but outside of that they are complete team that will once again compete in the AFC. It might seem like the Chiefs overpaid in this deal on the surface, but is a very fair deal for one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the NFL.

Expect to see a big season from Smith in 2014, and to see him prove that he deserved the deal to the rest of the league.

Grade: B+