Report: Chiefs to Trade QB Alex Smith to Redskins, Smith Gets Four-Year Deal
The Chiefs have an agreement in place to trade Pro Bowl quarterback Alex Smith to the Redskins, according to a report from The Kansas City Star's Terez A. Paylor.
After the trade goes through, which cannot happen until the league's new year begins on March 14, Smith and Washington will finalize a four-year extensionthat pays $23.5 million annually and includes $70 million in guarantees, reports ESPN's Chris Mortensen.
In exchange for Smith, the Redskins will send the Chiefs a third-round pick and a player, according to multiple reports. That player, according to ESPN's Field Yates, is cornerback Kendall Fuller, though Fuller tweeted that he will not be involved in the deal.
Smith, 33, led the NFL in passer rating (104.7) this season and set career-highs in passing yards (4,042) and touchdowns (26) while throwing just five interceptions.
Smith, the number one overall pick in the 2005 draft, spent his first seven seasons with the 49ers before he was traded to the Chiefs following the 2012 season. In five seasons with Kansas City, Smith has started 76 of 80 possible games and led the team to the playoffs four times. Smith has thrown for 102 touchdowns and just 34 interceptions during his tenure with the Chiefs, but he's failed to shed his reputation as a game manager and never took Kansas City past the Divisional Round.
Kansas City took Patrick Mahomes with the 10th pick in the 2017 draft, an indication that the franchise was considering life after Smith. Despite Smith's strong play this season, there were rumblings during the season that the Chiefs felt Mahomes was the quarterback of the future, and this deal paves the way for him to start in 2018.
The Chiefs' disappointing loss to the Titans in the AFC Wild Card Round prompted more questions about the future of the team, and where Smith fit in that future. Smith threw for 264 yards and two touchdowns in the game, but the offense was largely ineffective in the second half as the Titans erased a 21-3 deficit to win 22-21 at Arrowhead Stadium.
The deal seems to symbolize the end of the Kirk Cousins era in Washington. Cousins played the 2016 and 2017 seasons under the franchise tag as the Redskins did not offer him a long-term contract. Assuming Washington does not franchise tag Cousins for the third straight season—which will almost certainly not happen given the Smith extension—Cousins will be a free agent.
Fuller was a third-round pick in the 2016 draft out of Virginia Tech. He had four interceptions and forced one fumble in the 2017 season.
