Kansas City Chiefs: All eyes now turn towards the future

After another disappointing playoffs appearance, the Kansas City Chiefs must begin preparing for 2018. That means Patrick Mahomes and a young team.

If you’re looking for more misery and solace over the Kansas City Chiefs early playoff exit, you won’t find it here. The Chiefs blew a great opportunity, and that’s all there is to it. For many in Chiefs Kingdom, this is exactly what they were hoping for no more than a few weeks ago. So now it is time to look ahead to 2018.

The underlying theme of the 2017 season was that this would be the end of the Alex Smith era in Kansas City. Patrick Mahomes is on deck, and his debut was far from disappointing. Given the apparent readiness of the rookie quarterback, and the financial burdens of the organization, Smith is certainly on his way out.

Of course, that won’t be the only major change coming to Kansas City next year. There has been plenty of idle gossip from the fan base about the futures of Tamba Hali and Derrick Johnson. Both are clearly feeling age and injury at this point of their careers. Other players will likely move on as well. The team we see in 2018 will mark a new period in the Andy Reid regime.

The #Chiefs don't have to think Mahomes is better than Alex Smith to start him. They have to think Mahomes + $17 million in cap space + the draft pick from a trade is worth more than Alex Smith.
— Brandon Kiley (@BKSportsTalk) January 1, 2018

Trading Alex Smith

The top item on every Kansas City Chiefs fan’s mind right now is regarding how the team handles Alex Smith. There is no denying that Smith put it all on the table this year and played absolutely fantastic. In fact, he’s one of the few people you can’t pin the playoff loss on. However, the situation is what it is.

We’ve already heard the rumors about the Chiefs being open to trading Alex Smith. There should be no shortage of potential destinations this offseason. While there are some quality quarterbacks in the draft, none of them are being billed as “ready to go”. We saw this past season that teams are willing to try and give their rookie QBs a chance to sit and learn.

I can promise you that I’m already working on breaking down all of the possible destinations for Alex Smith. So expect that soon. It’s hard to see the Chiefs not being able to work out a deal with somebody on this. It’s not every day that a 4000 yard passer who doesn’t turn the ball over becomes available.

Building Around The Future

There is absolutely no reason why Patrick Mahomes should not be the Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterback in 2018. With that said, it now falls on Brett Veach and Andy Reid to build a strong team around him. The good news is that a lot of the pieces are already in place. Mahomes will have no shortage of tools to work with.