Alex Smith: Chiefs’ quarterback broken and restored
By Brandon Fry
Jan 4, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith (11) celebrates after throwing a pass for a touchdown during the second quarter of the 2013 AFC wild card playoff football game against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
December 30, 2012. The Kansas City Chiefs finished their dismal season against the Denver Broncos, which resulted in a final score 38-3 and sent the organization into an offseason where they were in search of some answers. The team had only won two games, one in which Matt Cassel was able to contribute to and the other win came from Brady Quinn. The team was in search of answers at quarterback: they initially started Matt Cassel the first half of the season and then decided to start Brady Quinn the last eight games to provide some sort of spark. No such luck. With two failed attempts at quarterback and two total wins for the season, the Chiefs needed to find a new quarterback for 2013.
Just five days after the excruciating season ended, Kansas City announced the firing of Scott Pioli and the hiring of Andy Reid. Eight days later, the team would announce John Dorsey as the new general manager. The Chiefs ship set sail to a new coordinate. Going into the 2013 season there were few quarterbacks to consider in free agency — Jason Campbell and Matt Moore were both available.
The Chiefs were going to have to either draft a quarterback with the first pick of the 2013 draft or make a trade. The 2013 draft class wasn’t particularly strong at quarterback (of course that would be the year the Chiefs have the first pick in the draft), some fans were pushing to draft Geno Smith with the first pick. Some fans were even pounding the table for Ryan Nassib, no I’m serious, they were. Thank God cooler heads prevailed.
As we know, Kansas City decided that trading for a quarterback who had some recent success would be a better direction to go and thus Alex Smith arrived in Kansas City. Love him or hate him, you can’t blame the Chiefs for going this direction with how bad things were with the team, and what was available.
Let’s put it this way, you’re in your house, alone and all of a sudden, you’re in grave danger as a pack of zombies break into your house trying to eat you alive. And let’s say you are provided with two choices, you could take a gun that’s within reach and works well enough, or you could try to maneuver past the zombies and head upstairs where MAYBE a more powerful shotgun is in a chest. That’s essentially what passing on Alex Smith and taking a quarterback in the draft would have been like (I can’t wait to read your comments).
Next: How it all began, and then got better