Alex Smith: a true NFL bargain

This is not another Chiefs blog post dedicated to discussing whether or not quarterback Alex Smith is good enough to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to a Super Bowl. I have my thoughts on the matter and so do you, but we don’t need to go down that road again today.

Let’s just agree that he’s not one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL and he’s also not one of the worst. Let’s just say that his abilities puts him somewhere in the vast expanse between those two extremes and leave it at that. Regardless of where in that range you would place him there is now almost indisputable evidence that Alex Smith is a bargain as far as NFL quarterbacks go.

That was not the general consensus when Smith signed his contract extension a couple of years ago, but I believe that even Smith’s detractors can agree with this view today when they look at the numbers.

Last week the Indianapolis Colts made Andrew Luck the highest paid quarterback in the history of the NFL. This wasn’t a big surprise. Everyone knew they were working on a deal and with contracts continually getting bigger and bigger every year it seemed inevitable that Luck’s deal would set the new bar for quarterbacks (at least until the next big one comes around).

This is also not a post where I want to debate Luck’s contract or whether or not he’s worth the money. I only mention it because his deal got me wondering where Alex Smith’s contract now ranks among the other quarterbacks in the league. I was anticipating it being somewhere in the 12-15 range (which I personally think would be fair market value).

Turns out I was wrong.

Next: Checking the numbers