Alex Smith Will Be Traded to the Washington Redskins… Huh?

The #Chiefs are trading QB Alex Smith to the #Redskins, source confirms (as @TerezPaylor reported). It involves picks and a player. Huge deal.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 31, 2018

Remember when Chiefs fans were drooling over Alex Smith after he came into New England and beat the Patriots on opening night? Oh, how long ago that feels. Now, the Patriots are about to play in another Super Bowl, while Smith will presumably be the new starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins. What a weird and oddly timed move. You hardly ever see trade get agreed upon right before the Super Bowl, but here we are.

So what does this mean? Well for starters, Kirk Cousins is most likely on his way out of Washington. This was bound to happen sooner rather than later. Cousins and Washington were never able to see eye to eye on a contract extension, and now he’ll finally be able to test his value on the open market. My guess would be he winds up in Denver based on the level of QB play they’ve gotten since Peyton Manning retired. Cousins would be a massive upgrade from Trevor Simian and Brock Osweiler, and you know that John Elway would like to get his hands on a top-tier QB. Now’s his chance.

This also means that Patrick Mahomes, who the Chiefs traded up to draft ahead of Deshaun Watson last year, will now be the starting QB in KC. We’ve heard rumors of him eventually replacing Smith within the next season or two, but I really didn’t expect it to happen now. I guess it’s time to see if he’s going to turn in the gunslinger that they expected him to be when they drafted him in the first round.

Written By: Nick Cherico (@NickCherico2)