Did Andy Reid take a shot at Alex Smith in praise of Patrick Mahomes?

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid had a very interesting comment when talking about Patrick Mahomes on Thursday, but was it a dig at Alex Smith?

The online world is ablaze with hot takes focused on Patrick Mahomes. The first-year starting quarterback in Kansas City has thrown a notable amount of interceptions in his first week of training camp, and the vultures are out.

On Thursday, head coach Andy Reid stepped to the podium and was asked how he felt about the turnovers. His response was one of the more authentic we’ve seen from the veteran coach in quite some time.

“If you don’t have the intestinal fortitude to go test it, you’re gonna be one of these quarterbacks that checks it down every time… and that’s not what it’s all about.”

Damn, Andy! So the obvious question is whether this was a shot at former quarterback Alex Smith, who the Chiefs traded to the Washington Redskins this offseason for a third-round pick and star corner Kendall Fuller.

The answer is an unequivocal no. While the words could be twisted for some to make it seem that way, anybody who is even slightly familiar with Reid and his fondness for Smith knows this wasn’t the intention. Additionally, Smith became more of a risk-taker under Reid, throwing for more than 4,000 yards for the first time in his career last season.

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Reid is simply trying to get the masses to calm down when it comes to Mahomes and his early penchant for picks. Ultimately, this is training camp. Mahomes should be throwing the ball into tight spots, finding out what he can and can’t get away with. Otherwise, he’s wasting valuable reps before going into his preseason affair of the year, Aug. 9 against the Houston Texans.

Everybody can calm down, it’s practice. We’re talkin’ about practice. Not a game, not a game, we’re talkin’ about practice.