The Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs once had a tremendous rivalry, first in the 1960s during the American Football League years and then in the 1990s while Marty Schottenheimer roamed the sidelines.
Now, the rivalry is back on in a major way. On Thursday morning, it was reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network that cornerback Sean Smith signed with Oakland for four years and $40 million with $20 million guaranteed.
The #Raiders and CB Sean Smith agreed to a 4-year deal worth $40M, source said, with $20M guaranteed
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 10, 2016
There is no way to sugarcoat that this move hurts Kansas City. The Raiders are not an elite team yet because the defense still has a long way to go, but they are going to compete for a playoff spot. Meanwhile, Kansas City – even with the Smith loss – is having an excellent offseason after retaining Jaye Howard, Derrick Johnson, Tamba Hali, Frank Zombo and Eric Berry, while adding the game’s premier right tackle in Mitchell Schwartz.
Kansas City was reportedly in the mix for Smith the whole time but ultimately, did not come up to what Oakland was offering. The deal seems reasonable, but perhaps Dorsey didn’t want to commit to Smith well into his 30s, considering the defensive back will be 29 this summer.
Regardless, this is going to be one hell of a rivalry again when these two teams meet in 2016.