The Kansas City Chiefs made sure to communicate early and often with incumbent QB Alex Smith even as they chose his replacement.
Give the Kansas City Chiefs credit for one thing: communication. Whether or not they made the right choice with Patrick Mahomes in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft, the one thing they were intent on doing was keeping their current starter, Alex Smith, abreast of any and all possible changes along the way.
General manager John Dorsey opened up on the television show Good Morning Football about his communication processes with his quarterbacks, both present and future:
"“You know, Alex is the consummate professional. He’s been through these types of situations before and we made sure we communicated with Alex leading up to the draft that we may make a move like this,” John Dorsey said on Good Morning Football. “And when we were on the clock and traded up with Buffalo, we made sure we again got in contact with Alex and he’s all on board with this."
The previous incidents to which Dorsey is referring is when Colin Kaepernick supplanted Alex Smith as the starter with the San Francisco 49ers. There was some real drama around the team at that time, wondering how the plan of succession should go and Smith found himself benched in the process. That was good news for the Chiefs who claimed him for two second-round picks.
This time around, Smith clearly knows he’s the starter for the immediate future with a likely reconsideration point to come next offseason. It also seems clear that Mahomes knows his role, sitting and waiting for at least one regular season.
Fans might be clamoring for a change sooner than later, but given the thoughtfulness of Dorsey and head coach Andy Reid through this entire process, it’s hard to imagine any of this process will ever capitulate to emotion.