Here’s your chance, Alex Smith haters.
A rumor is floating around the Chiefs could be interested in trading for Robert Griffin III if he is made available this offseason. It must be emphasized this is just a rumor, and there have been no reported talks between the two teams on a potential deal. Here are the tweets in question when it comes to the Chiefs and RGIII.
I’ll say this one more time with all-caps emphasis:
THIS IS A RUMOR AND HAS NOT BEEN REPORTED AS A THING THAT HAS IMMEDIATE POTENTIAL OF HAPPENING.
Now that we have that out of the way…
A deal between the Chiefs and Washington for RGIII would be intriguing. As Albright notes, Griffin would be a good fit for what Andy Reid likes to do on offense, and Reid has a history of turning guys with raw skills into very valuable assets. Griffin also has a history of being very good in terms of accuracy (65% completion percentage his rookie season) and for throwing the ball down the field. Add his arm talent with his tremendous speed and athleticism and the Chiefs offense could do a lot of very fun things with a fully developed Griffin at quarterback.
There would be hurdles to clear, however. First, Alex Smith just signed a contract that would mean a lot of dead money on the Chiefs’ cap for 2015. Trading Smith would open up about $1.2 million in cap space but all of that plus some would be consumed by Griffin’s contract. Creating the financial flexibility to make the deal work could be an issue for the Chiefs in the short term.
Then there is Griffin’s injury history. RGIII has already had two knee surgeries in his young career plus has had problems with his ankle and a concussion. How long does he have until his body breaks down to the point where he is no longer a productive player?
Yes, there are concerns about the Chiefs’ offensive line but some of those problems should be addressed – along with the wide receiver issue – both in the offseason and with the healthy return of Jeff Allen
Like Smith, Griffin has been the victim of bad coaching and a chaotic front office. Stability is something he could desperately use, something the Chiefs could provide if he were to end up in Kansas City. Additionally, Griffin would be in an offense that would be better suited to his skill set and with a coach who understands how to extract the maximum amount of talent out of his quarterbacks.
Griffin threw for 3,200 yards, 20 touchdowns, and five interceptions while adding 815 rushing yards in his rookie season for Washington. His 71.41 QBR was rather impressive, too.
In his career he has completed 63.5% of his passes for 7,272 yards, a 3.9% TD rate, and a 2.1% interception rate. He’ll turn 25 on February 12.
I’m not sure I would make the trade as proposed in the rumor, but the idea of making a trade for Griffin isn’t a bad idea. You can never have enough good quarterbacks and Alex Smith does have his issues with concussions from his time in San Francisco. In fact it was a concussion that made Smith available to the Chiefs in the first place. Whether Griffin would start a game for Kansas City is irrelevant if he can build up his value and accumulate some draft picks for the Chiefs down the road.
But trading Smith for Griffin doesn’t make a lot of sense for the Chiefs, not just because of the cap but because Griffin at the moment is damaged goods. He wouldn’t be a guarantee to succeed in Kansas City and the Chiefs have at least proven they can win football games with Smith at quarterback even with no offensive line or receiver help. It’s an interesting idea none the less.