It appears that Alex Smith may have thrown his last pass for the Kansas City Chiefs after the NFL club agreed in principle to trade the veteran quarterback to the Washington Redskins for a third-round draft pick and cornerback Kendall Fuller on Jan. 30 — two days after the NFL Pro Bowl game in which Smith played for the victorious AFC squad.
Smith, who grew up in Bonita, attended Bonita Vista Middle School and won two San Diego Section football championships with Helix High School, will likely be the new starter for the Redskins, residents of the NFC East that also includes the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants.
Incumbent Washington signal-caller Kirk Cousins will become a hot commodity on the free agent market.
It’s being called the first blockbuster trade of the 2018 season.
Smith tendered one of his most productive seasons in 2017 as the league’s most accurate passer with a104.7 rating. He threw for 4,042 yards with 26 touchdowns and five interceptions.
He led the Chiefs to back-to-back AFC West Division titles but could not match that in postseason play. Kansas City was bounced out of the playoffs in their first game in each of the past two seasons.
The big strike against Smith is that he’s just 2-5 in career playoff games.
But he fares to reap riches from the deal.
Smith is reportedly receiving a four-year $94 million contract extension from the Redskins that guarantees him $71 million.
That’s a lot of money. At 33, that’s nice retirement income should he elect to hang up his cleats at the end of the contract at age 38.
Cousins should attract a lot of attention on the open market after being one of just five quarterbacks in the league to have thrown for 4,000 yards in each of the past three seasons. There are a lot of teams in need of a proven starting quarterback: the Denver Broncos and Cleveland Browns likely top the list.
KC rookie Patrick Mahomes will likely take over as the Chiefs’ starting quarterback. Head coach Andy Reid put a lot of stock in Smith’s leadership; the KC coach may have to put up with some growing pains under Mahomes, a first-round draft pick.
This will be Smith’s third NFL team. He started his career in 2005 with the San Francisco 49ers as the NFL’s No. 1 draft pick and played eight seasons for the Forty-Niners. He spent five seasons in Kansas City.
Pro Bowl
Smith finished as the top passer for the AFC by completing seven of 10 attempts for 131 yards with one touchdown and one interception in the AFC’s dramatic 24-23 come-from-behind victory over the NFC in a downpour Jan. 28 in Orlando, Fla.
Smith tossed a four-yard scoring pass to Delanie Walker of the Tennessee Titans in the fourth quarter to start the AFC’s second-half comeback.
Walker later caught an 18-yard TD pass from Oakland Raiders signal-caller Derek Carr with 1:31 left in the fourth quarter to stand up as the game-winning score
Walker eared offensive MVP honors while Von Miller of the Denver Broncos was voted the game’s defensive MVP.
Jared Goff of the L.A. Rams finished as the NFC’s top passer with 86 yards. T.Y. Hilton of the Indianapolis Colts was the top receiver for the AFC with four catches for 98 yards while tight end Kyle Rudolph of the Minnesota Vikings was the NFC’s top receiver with seven catches for 70 yards.
The AFC trailed 20-3 at halftime.
Super Sunday
Sunday’s Super Bowl matchup between the NFC champion Philadelphia Eagle and AFC champion New England Patriots put a gigantic cap to the 2017-18 NFL season. The game promised to deliver super television ratings as the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots attempted to win their record-tying sixth Super Bowl title.
However, while the Eagles made history with their 41-33 win over the Patriots to win the franchise’s first Super Bowl championship, viewership was in decline. Sunday’s NFL championship game was the lowest rated Super Bowl since 2010.
Philadelphia’s victory has to stand as one of the most exciting Super Bowl games in history despite the declining ratings. There was only one punt in the game — and nine touchdowns (five by the victors and four by the losers).
The contest set a Super Bowl record with 1,151 total offensive yards. It wasn’t decided until the last play when New England quarterback Tom Brady’s Hail Mary pass was batted and then fell incomplete in the end zone.
Brady passed for 505 yards and three touchdowns in the Super Bowl loss.
Eagles quarterback Nick Foles earned MVP honors with a Super Bowl performance for the ages for a back-up quarterback: 373 yards and three touchdowns. He even caught a TD pass on a trick play.
The story of the game was one of near misses for the Patriots, who were making their record 10th Super Bowl appearance. New England missed a field goal attempt while Brady missed catching a trick play pass that would have landed the Pats deep in Philadelphia territory early in the game.
New England set a Super Bowl record with 613 offensive yards.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, who was making his record 11th Super Bowl appearance as a coach, was visibly disappointed during a post-game press conference. The Pats tied a Super Bowl record (held with the Denver Broncos) with their fifth Super Bowl loss.
Foles was simply thankful, realizing his role on the team was due to the late season injury to starter Carson Wentz. This was Foles’ opportunity to seize his moment in history – and he did.
Foles remains under contract with the Eagles. But it’s anyone’s guess where he will play next season.
His value as a trade commodity would be sky high.
And next season is right around the corner in a league that really has a short off-season.
The 2018 NFL Draft is scheduled April 26-28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Cleveland Browns will have the first selection.
Post-draft rookie camps follow in early May. Preseason training camps begin in July. Preseason games start in August.
The 2018-19 NFL regular season kicks off Sept. 6.
It will be interesting to see how many players both the Eagles and Patriots can retain and which teams throughout the league score the biggest in off-season acquisitions to possibly upset the balance of power next season.
