Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith is coming off of a career year. His future in Kansas City is still uncertain, though, and he’s accepted that.
Alex Smith knew coming into the 2017-18 season that it could very well be his last one in Kansas City. The Chiefs drafted their quarterback of the future in Patrick Mahomes to succeed him at some point, but after another first-round exit in the playoffs his time may come to an end sooner rather than later.
Because Smith had a career year this year his stock isn’t likely to be higher than what it is right now, and if the Chiefs so choose they could trade him for picks, and save about $17 million in cap space at the same time. Smith was recently on the Dan Patrick Show, and said that he wishes he was in control of this process.
Alex Smith: I wish I was in control of my future https://t.co/DP66c1JwsJ
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) January 30, 2018
You can’t really blame Smith for wishing this entire process was up to him. He’s done a lot of good things in KC and that can’t be understated. The Chiefs were a miserable team before he and Andy Reid showed up. Now the playoffs have become something to expect every season, and that’s something that Chiefs fans haven’t experienced since the early 2000s.
The fact of the matter is that Smith just has to sit back, and whatever happens, happens. It’s the business part of the NFL, but he’s been in this position before. Back when he was with the San Francisco 49ers he faced this same dilemma after Colin Kaepernick took his starting job. This one’s a little bit different, because now Smith is 33 years old and only has a year left on his contract.
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Now Smith could go the petty route, and threaten to retire should the Chiefs try to trade him to somewhere he doesn’t want to go. But, he’s not that kind of guy, and I’m sure the Chiefs wouldn’t do that to him given everything he’s done for the franchise.
There are a handful of teams that could use his services, and if the Chiefs were to manage to get a good offer for Smith it wouldn’t be out of the question to deal him given their salary cap, and deficiencies on the defensive side of the ball. Who knows, the Chiefs may just end up keeping him, but still let Mahomes battle for the starting job. Having Smith as a backup wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.