Kansas City Chiefs: Premature predictions for 2017
By Chris Taylor
3. Alex Smith will have career numbers
But there is no Jeremy Maclin, you say? No there sure is not. However, the possibilities are endless as to who he delegates the ball to on game days.
Alex Smith has thrown for 13,566 yards since he became a Chief back in 2013. That is only 714 yards fewer than what he had the seven years previous in San Francisco. Alex has also thrown 76 touchdown passes as a Chief, just 5 shy of what he threw with the 49ers.
Travis Kelce seems to still be a tad underrated when it comes to how valuable he is to an offense. The only tight end more valuable to his team plays for the Patriots.
Jeremy Maclin was only responsible for 1,624 of those yards and 10 touchdowns in his two year stint. Those could be Hill’s numbers by the end of this season alone.
Smith has the fastest man in the league to throw the football to. Hill isn’t just a deep threat, he can run good routes and burst up the field as well as anyone, and rather quickly.
In 2017, only 2.5% of Smiths’ passes went between 21 and 30 yards, ranking last. That number should go up a few percentage points this season whether he wants to throw deep or not. As his confidence in Hill continues to grow, the deep passes will become more frequent. Many fans will still be unhappy with Smith’s progression, but there will be progress. Progress in an area that fans have been clamoring about for years.