Geoff Schwartz: Chiefs should acquire Tony Romo over Alex Smith
By Matt Conner
Former Chiefs offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz says the Chiefs would be better off with Tony Romo under center than Alex Smith.
Geoff Schwartz is not only a former NFL offensive lineman who played with the Kansas City Chiefs, but he’s also the brother of current right tackle Mitchell Schwartz. In other words, in the sea of NFL talking heads and football analysts, Schwartz knows more about Chiefs than most you hear commenting on how good (or bad) the Chiefs will be in 2017. Recently Dave Dameshek had Schwartz on as a guest on NFL Network to discuss the current state of the Chiefs roster, and he had some interesting things to say.
“They have one of the most talented rosters in the NFL,” said Schwartz. “They lost Dontari Poe, added Bennie Logan, d-tackle from the Eagles. He’s really good. He’s gonna fit really well in that scheme. They need to probably find a middle linebacker to help DJ along if he’s injured and doesn’t recover from that.”
From there, the conversation gets very interesting when discussing quarterback. Schwartz seemed to be where most of us are as Chiefs fans, defensive of starter Alex Smith inasmuch as he’s accomplished quite a bit and helped the Chiefs win consistently while simultaneously questioning whether he will ever be able to generate momentum in the playoffs.
“They’re an interesting team at quarterback,” said Schwartz. This is probably Alex Smith’s last year to show if he can really lead them past that wild card round or divisional round, I should say. Looking at that Steelers game, for the Steelers to not score a touchdown and the Chiefs score two and don’t win the game, that doesn’t look good.”
Then he offered up his own preference by mentioning a name that’s been bandied about quite a bit this offseason despite no real substance on the side of the Chiefs: Tony Romo.
“I know they’re not going to trade for Tony Romo, but if Romo was there, wow, that would be…”
At that point, Dameshek interrupts him to ask whether or not he thought the Chiefs were going to make a move.
“I’m sure John Dorsey called around. All these guys talk, but you’d have to give up a lot probably to get Tony Romo. Maybe he didn’t want to mortgage the future to do that. Maybe they feel that their team is that good now, but what do they do with Alex Smith’s contract? I don’t know if he has any guaranteed money left.”
What’s interesting here is that Romo has already mentioned the Chiefs as a place he’d like to play and that rumor has been floated on two separate occasions, which is what brought the Chiefs into the mix in the first place. The only mention from Kansas City’s side has been an unnamed source quoted by NFL Network’s James Palmer saying they’re “not interested.”
Schwartz goes on to both criticize and then defend Smith in the conversation, and it’s here that most fans will likely resonate with Schwartz the most. Whether or not you agree that Romo could be an upgrade, the reality is that feelings about Smith are decidedly mixed. He’s not a bad quarterback, but it’s also hard to determine just how good he is.
That’s the thing with Alex,” says Schwartz to Dameshek. “About two throws a game, you’re like, ‘Eh, I want those back.’ That’s why you can’t put him in that elite category. Look, when Alex was with the Niners, he took them to the NFC Championship game, so he can do it. He just has to have the complementary parts around him. If your defense is going to fail in a game, I’m not sure he can lead your team in New England to beat the Patriots.
“However, I played in a playoff game with him in 2013 where he threw for 400 yards in Indianapolis and had 44 points. We lost the game, but that wasn’t his fault. So he’s shown he can put up points… to me, he keeps winning games, he gets the Chiefs to the playoffs, and in the playoffs, you have to have a little luck.”