KC Chiefs: Alex Smith Gets No Respect In Quarterback Rankings

Alex Smith will be going into his fourth season as the KC Chiefs’ starting quarterback. Nationwide, Smith doesn’t appear to have the respect he deserves.

Kansas City Chiefs fans heavily debate whether or not Alex Smith is the guy who can lead this team to the promise land or not. It’s been an ongoing debate since Smith arrived to Kansas City during the 2013 offseason.

Nathaniel Reeves of FanSided recently compiled a list ranking every quarterback in the NFL, and he disrespected the Chiefs’ captain by putting him at 22nd on the list.

Not only is Smith not even considered average by Reeves, but he’s considered the tenth worst quarterback by his standards. There’s no way that Smith should be that low, and it just shows that fans nationwide don’t respect the way Smith plays the game.

Sure, Alex Smith isn’t like Brady or Peyton. He’s not going to be a Hall of Famer (not as of now anyway), but he’s a good leader, he takes care of the football, and he’s one of the smartest guys to play the game right now. I can get putting guys like Brady, Drew Brees, and Ben Roethlisberger above Smith, but Jay Cutler? Tyrod Taylor? Kirk Cousins? Heck, even Jameis Winston is ranked higher than Smith!

Here is some of what Reeves had to say about our quarterback,

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"Smith has been fairly successful since coming to Kansas City in 2013, despite receiving plenty of criticism over the course of his career. The 2005 first overall pick threw for just shy of 3,500 yards and 20 touchdowns to seven interceptions, one of the best years of his career. Bringing in Jeremy Maclin certainly helped, as Kansas City had limited talent at receiver prior to this year.While Smith’s checkdown-heavy style of play has not always been well-received, it works well enough in Andy Reid’s offense. Smith won’t make mistakes and is very efficient, and he should be able to maintain his current level of play for a couple more seasons at 31 years old.At this point, Smith is what he is, and there isn’t much upside left. Smith has proven he can lead his team to the playoffs, but Kansas City is going to need big years out of Maclin and a healthy Jamaal Charles to go on a Super Bowl run."

I agree that Smith isn’t the flashiest of players. He’s not going to wow you with his deep throwing skills and he isn’t going to make a jaw dropping throw, but the guy has been solid while in a KC Chiefs uniform.

In three seasons with the Chiefs, Smith has gone 30-16 and thrown for 10,064 yards and 61 touchdowns. He often gets crap from analysts due to his first overall pick back in the 2005 NFL Draft and underperforming while with the 49ers.

Near the end of his career in San Francisco, Smith began to turn it around, but Colin Kaepernick eventually stole his job (and is ranked 28th on the rankings, for what it’s worth).

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A large part of why Smith struggled in San Francisco was due to having a different offensive coordinator in his first seven years. He later turned it around, and finished his 49er days with a winning record.

Smith has been a different quarterback since the 2011 season, and he’s always been reliable for the Kansas City Chiefs. His ranking on this article was way too low, as he should at least be in the top half of quarterbacks in the league.

People may complain about Alex Smith, but look at what some of the other teams have been going through this offseason. The Houston Texans shelled out over $70 million to Brock Osweiler, who’s only started seven games in his career. The Philadelphia Eagles paid a hefty sum for Chase Daniel, who’s only started two games ever. Lastly, the Cleveland Browns just signed yet another quarterback in Robert Griffin III, their 25th since 1999.

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So, yeah, it could be a lot worse. I’ll take Alex Smith, thank you very much.

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