Kansas City Chiefs as ‘Friday Night Lights’ characters
By Matt Conner
Alex Smith as Matt Saracen
All he does is win.
Matt Saracen didn’t have the arm. He didn’t look the part. He couldn’t throw like J.D. McCoy. He lacked the charisma of Jason Street. He wasn’t the overall package of talent like Ray Tatum. Yet when all other college prospects were sitting at home because their teams had lost, Matt Saracen was starting in the Texas high school state championship game on multiple occasions.
Despite helping Andy Reid turn around the Chiefs to the point where making the playoffs is now a given, a significant part of Chiefs Kingdom has been hungry for a replacement for some time. That’s how Friday Night Lights always felt with Saracen under center. Fortunately, Smith and Saracen both always did what was asked of them and maintained a professional demeanor in all circumstances.
When Saracen was benched for the heralded arm of a freshman competitor in J.D. McCoy, he decided to move to wide receiver to help the team. He never made a fuss about it to his teammates or became a divisive presence. The same could be said of Smith this last year. Instead of any quarterback drama, the Chiefs locker room was always a united front and Smith’s professionalism played a major role in this entire transition.
Besides which Chiefs player could ever get away with dating Andy Reid’s daughter? It’d definitely be Alex Smith.