Kansas City Chiefs: 5 potential replacements for Alex Smith

3. Patrick Mahomes

If the Chiefs want to get a long-term answer, Mahomes has to be one of the main options. Mahomes played at Texas Tech throughout his three-year college career, and was in an Air Raid system. In other words, it is likely that Smith would have to play in 2017 while Mahomes sits behind him and learns the system.

Mahomes is likely to go in either the late-first round or early second round, putting him in Kansas City’s sweet spot. It would be a risk taking a player who needs to learn an entirely new way of playing, but that’s a risk you take with most college quarterbacks.

The Chiefs have not taken a quarterback in the first round since 1983, when they took Todd Blackledge. It’s time to take that risk, provided Dorsey and the scouting department feels comfortable rolling the dice. Mahomes needs to get his footwork corrected and learn how to go through progressions, but he’s a big kid with a cannon for an arm.

This wouldn’t fix the quarterback situation in 2017, but it could set the franchise up for 15 years, something that literally hasn’t been the case since Len Dawson was under center.