The Kansas City Chiefs traded Alex Smith on January 30th, 2018. What does that trade look like now, one year after the team traded their then-starting quarterback?
The evening of January 30th, 2018 was a memorable one for Kansas City Chiefs fans. The franchise traded Alex Smith, their starting quarterback at that time, to the Washington Redskins in exchange for cornerback Kendall Fuller and a third round pick in that year’s draft.
The move was met with mostly positive reviews, as it officially marked the start of the Patrick Mahomes era in Kansas City.
As we all know, the Chiefs moved up in the 2017 NFL Draft to draft Mahomes. Alex Smith was still the presumed starter for the 2017 season, but selecting Mahomes signified that the organization was ready to move on from the Utah product in the near future.
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While the playoff loss to the Titans wasn’t entirely Smith’s fault, it didn’t help his case when it came to determining the future of the position. Ultimately, the Chiefs had seen all they needed to see in Mahomes’ lone start in the regular season and opted to move on from Smith.
Fans certainly appreciated what Alex Smith did for them during his five years in Kansas City. He led the team to winning seasons each year he was in town and helped make the franchise relevant again. They made it to the playoffs in all but one season while Smith was the starting quarterback and he finished third all-time in passing yards for the franchise.
With that said, Smith took the Chiefs as far as he could. He was often criticized by Chiefs fans because he didn’t throw down the field as much as he should have and most were ready for the next quarterback to step in and take over.
We already saw what a difference it made having Patrick Mahomes in at quarterback and not Smith. The throws Mahomes made throughout the season were insane and obviously his stats were unreal. The 23-year old is likely going to win the MVP award, so yeah… I’d say this trade worked out just fine for KC.
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As for Smith, things didn’t go smoothly for him in D.C. The Redskins were doing well while he was in at quarterback, but a gruesome leg injury endured in week 11 has led to the rest of Smith’s career being up in the air. It’s already been reported that he won’t be playing in 2019 and by the time the 2020 season begins, he’d be 36 years old.
Hopefully Smith recovers just fine and if he decides to play again, hopefully it goes well for him. Chiefs fans will always root for Smith no matter what, but no one would say that this trade wasn’t one of the best moves the Kansas City Chiefs organization has ever made.
Had the Chiefs opted to keep Smith for the 2018 season and rolled with Mahomes as the backup, there’s no way they’d have been 12-4, won the AFC West, and locked up the top seed in the playoffs. They also wouldn’t have made the AFC Championship Game. No way that would have happened.
Smith was a good quarterback in KC, but with how bad the 2018 Chiefs defense was, he wouldn’t have been able to outscore his opponents on a week-to-week basis. Mahomes was up to that task every single week and his numbers show that.
The Alex Smith trade was a big risk for the Kansas City Chiefs because no one knew what Mahomes was going to be. Years from now, we’ll continue to look back at this trade and know that it was the right decision.