Former No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith has had a bit of a career resurgence since he joined the Kansas City Chiefs in 2013. He's been to two Pro Bowls with the team and has led the team to 11 wins in three of the four full seasons he's played there. However, the 33-year old might have seen his replacement drafted of the first round of this year's NFL Draft in Patrick Mahomes.
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That pick has led many to speculate that Smith could be headed out of town before next season and it would appear he's thinking the same thing as well. In an interview on In Depth with Graham Bensinger, Smith explains that he's always played with the expectation of being on the move the next year. When asked if he felt like this season was his last season in Kansas City, he said this:
"Yeah, you know, for sure it absolutely does, without a doubt. And I only say that because, that was exactly my mindset when I got traded here was no different. Like this could be my only year here right? I just think you become a veteran. Structurally the contracts — the guarantees are less and that's just the reality, right. Like you got to prove yourself year in and year out and if you can't get the job done, every team's gonna go try to find somebody else they can, right? I mean that's the reality of the deal."
He certainly started this season by making the most of a primetime Thursday performance against the New England Patriots as he demolished the defending champs with a stat line of 368 passing yards, four touchdowns and an 80 percent completion percentage. Smith did go on to say in that interview that he will be mentoring Mahomes and help him eventually take over the starting job.
If Smith's season continues to go like the first game did, then he should have a starting job next season in this league that has a serious lack of starting-caliber quarterbacks and may have less with potential retirements this summer in Ben Roethlisberger, maybe Eli Manning and Jay Cutler if the Dolphins like how Ryan Tannehill looks after his ACL injury recovery.
Another option for Smith could be to head to the Washington Redskins should the team find keeping Kirk Cousins to be too expensive. Smith would be a considerably cheaper option and could orchestrate the offense just as well, if not better than Cousins has so far.
