Market for Alex Smith will be strong, Ian Rapoport says
Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network thinks the Chiefs could get a solid trade haul in return for Alex Smith.
Kirk Larrabee - 3 hours ago 0
The Kansas City Chiefs should have no problem finding a trade partner for Alex Smith this offseason and could come away with a strong haul in return, according to insider Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network.
Rapoport, who reported over the weekend the Chiefs would be listening to offers for Smith this offseason, was a guest on The Day Shift on 610 Sports Radio Kansas City Monday, where he was asked about the level of interest in Alex Smith and whether or not the Chiefs will be able to trade him.
"A lot," Rapoport said. "A lot, and yes."
Smith is coming off his best statistical season of his career as he threw for 4,042 yards in 2017 with 26 touchdowns, five interceptions, and a 104.7 passer rating. Rapoport says it's that performance along with what Smith can bring to a team's quarterback room that makes him such a hot commodity.
"He was number one in the NFL in passer rating," Rapoport said. "He is a great person, so if you trade for him and then draft a quarterback high, you will get someone who's going to help him. All you need to do is ask Patrick Mahomes. It's actually an amazing thing what a great person Alex Smith is because he's dealt with a lot of crap in his career despite mostly awesome and has come out the other side of it."
There have been several teams speculated to be good fits for Smith, with different situations among each of them. There's the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills, playoff teams that are still fighting quarterback woes; there's the Arizona Cardinals, a team whose starting quarterback, Carson Palmer, just retired, but still has enough talent to be competitive next season; and there's a team like the Cleveland Browns, who might be interested in acquiring Smith to not just help the team start winning again but to be a mentor to a quarterback they might select in the draft.
The latter situation might not seem like an ideal one to many quarterbacks, but Smith has done it before, and Rapoport thinks he might not have a problem doing it again.
"If I was a franchise quarterback, would I really want to help the guy who is brought in to replace me? I don't know," Rapoport said. "For some ridiculous reason, Alex Smith has done it several times, and he's continued to be a great guy. He's going to end up benefiting from all this because first of all, he's probably going to wind up being traded somewhere great. Second of all, I think his legacy will sort of live on and people will know what a good person he is."
Trading Smith would free up $17 million in cap space for the Chiefs, a much-needed amount for a team currently projected to be over the cap next year, and would also allow them to replenish some of the draft picks they traded away in multiple trades in recent months. It cost a 2013 second round pick and a 2014 conditional pick (which turned out to be another second round pick) for the Chiefs to acquire Smith from the San Francisco 49ers in 2013, and Rapoport thinks the Chiefs could get even more in return for Smith than that.
"I think they might do better this time," Rapoport said. "He is a hot commodity, and they are in unbelievable position."
Originally Posted by Chief Roundup:
What about a LG? What about our FA class? What about the injury to Jones?
Most of our FA that are UFA:
Bennie Logan NT
Dustin Colquitt P
Anthony Sherman FB
Albert Wilson WR
Kevin Pierre-Louis ILB/ST
Zach Fulton C/OL
Kenneth Acker CB
Philip Gaines CB
Jarvis Jenkins DL
Hali, DJ, Ford, Zombo need to be replaced and Revis is just too much money.
We need to resign Colquitt, Sherman, Wilson, Fulton. Our OL looked better with Fulton at C.
But there is plenty of holes with only 4 picks in the draft now with a possible 7th rounder added later to bring it up to 5.
Jones has an injury that takes 6 freaking weeks to recover from. FFS man.
The only person on your list you could argue we need to resign is Fulton and that's even arguable. Wilson would be OK cheap enough as well.
Again we dont have a bunch of holes and unless you still haven't figured it out we will have a shit ton of $ to spend.
You are arguing depth issues, not starter issues. Depth is much cheaper than the starting 22 players.
We need 2 to 3 new defensive starters, thats it, its not a huge deal handled correctly. Especially after we get a few picks for Smith. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Marcellus:
Jones has an injury that takes 6 freaking weeks to recover from. FFS man.
The only person on your list you could argue we need to resign is Fulton and that's even arguable. Wilson would be OK cheap enough as well.
Again we dont have a bunch of holes and unless you still haven't figured it out we will have a shit ton of $ to spend.
You are arguing depth issues, not starter issues. Depth is much cheaper than the starting 22 players.
We need 2 to 3 new defensive starters, thats it, its not a huge deal handled correctly. Especially after we get a few picks for Smith.
Jones had a grade 3 tear to his MCL and had surgery. He is not even suppose to begin exercises until after 6 weeks.
DJ is a starter, Logan is a starter, Ford is a starter, Revis is a starter. Zombo and Hali are both rotational depth. Colquitt and Sherman are the "starters" at their positions. Yes Sherman will be cheap but not sure what Colquitt will ask for or where we will go with that position.
Wilson will be cheap, but not as cheap as he has been.
You don't improve the team by adding depth through FA and being cheap. [Reply]
