Kansas City Chiefs: Alex Smith era officially over in Kansas City

By now we’ve all heard the news that the Kansas City Chiefs traded quarterback Alex Smith to the Washington Redskins. It was an era that lasted for half a decade in Kansas City.

Five years ago, I was in my final semester of college when the news of the Kansas City Chiefs trading for Alex Smith dropped. I remember running upstairs to get my laptop so I could blog about it for my internship I had at the time and grinning from ear to ear while typing up my opinion piece.

At that point in time, the KC Chiefs hadn’t had a steady quarterback since Trent Green was taking snaps in 2006. It had been a rough stretch of watching the likes of Brodie Croyle, Tyler Thigpen, Matt Cassel, Tyler Palko, and Brady Quinn attempt to quarterback the Chiefs and finally having a reliable signal caller was a dream come true.

The Chiefs went from a 2-14 team in 2012 to an 11-5 playoff team in 2013. Smith got them there (yes, Andy Reid helped, but this is a post about Smith) and he continued to be the changing force for this Chiefs organization over the next five years.

Under Smith, the Chiefs never had a losing record and they only missed the playoffs once. They won the AFC West twice and went 11-1 against the division over the last two years.

What Smith did for this franchise was incredible. Sure, we all teased him for his “weak” arm, but compared to what Chiefs fans were used to before he came to town, Smith was what dreams were made of. He provided consistency at the position, which is something Chiefs Kingdom was not used to.

With the trade, we now transition to the Patrick Mahomes era of Kansas City Chiefs football. While I’m certainly excited to see the young gunslinger take the field, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t miss Alex Smith next year. He wasn’t perfect, but he was the perfect quarterback for this team in the time they were in.