Alex Smith has been traded twice during 14-year NFL career. Both times, Smith’s career seemed to be revitalized before being pushed out by a younger, internal option. In San Francisco, Smith was pushed out by the emerging Colin Kaepernick. Now in Kansas City, Smith has been shipped out for the younger Patrick Mahomes. Nevertheless, Smith feels excited about the chance to land in Washington.
When asked by ESPN’s Michael Collins about the trade, Smith shared his thoughts about landing in DC:
“Yeah, I’m jacked,” Smith told Collins at this weekend’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament. “I’m pumped for the opportunity. A new challenge moving forward, I can’t wait to get started. I know it’s kind of, we’re not there yet, we’ve got to wait for the league year to start, but I can’t say how much I’m looking forward to it.”
Smith will replace Kirk Cousins in Washington who has been nothing but average. You can make the argument that Smith is better than Cousins, where I successfully made my argument on the second episode of That’s Some Cheese. Cousins career record over six-years in Washington was 26-30-1. That’s not good enough.
Smith posted career highs in passing yards (4,042) and passing touchdowns (26) this year and probably doesn’t get the credit that he deserves. Smith, 33, was the number one overall pick out of the University of Utah back in 2005 for a reason. Washington gave up a third-round pick and slot corner Kendall Fuller to acquire their new franchise quarterback. Smith then agreed to a five-year extension that will pay him upwards of $100 million. We’re going to find out how great of a coach Jay Gruden is. Can Smith replicate the moderate success Kirk Cousins had or can he find a way to actually win a playoff game, something Cousins never did?
