A Matt Nagy-Alex Smith Reunion?
Alex Smith's departure from Washington had been long expected and now real speculation about his addition to the Chicago Bears roster can begin.
Washington is releasing the NFL's comeback player of the year, according to Ian Rappoport. Smith overcame 17 surgeries following a horrific leg injury to lead Washington to the playoffs last season.
Smith's big salary cap number led to his release and there will be teams looking to add a 36-year-old backup with a winning history at a bargain rate. There will be some who consider him a starter or at least a competitor for a starting job, and one of those would be the Bears if they sign him.
The logical reason for Smith being linked to the Bears is his long tie with coach Matt Nagy. Smith's statistics improved considerably when he was dealt by San Francisco to the Kansas City Chiefs and began working in Andy Reid's offense, much of the time under Nagy's tutelage.
Smith, who turns 37 in May, had completed only 59.3% of his passes for 6.6 yards an attempt with a 2.9% rate of interceptions for San Francisco. When he came to Kansas City the numbers improved drastically to 65.1% completions, 7.2 yards per attempt and a 1.4% interception rate.
When Smith got to take the field against the Rams last season for Washington for the first time after his surgeries, Nagy offered up an emotional comment on his former player.
"It was surreal really," Nagy said. "I understand who he is more than a lot of people. So it doesn’t shock me.
"To see his family, Elizabeth and his kids in the stands on a rainy day just watching him, the emotions that I'm sure they were going through. You know, Alex is … I've told you what I feel about him, how special of a person and how much of a warrior he is."
Part of Smith's repertoire had always been his mobility and he didn't show much of this in Washington after the leg injury. He still played well enough to lead Washington to a 5-1 record in his starts. He played extensively in a loss to the Giants and then started a 30-27 loss against Detroit when he had to throw 55 times.
From then on, Washington won every game and then had to take on Tampa in the playoffs without Smith because of a calf injury.
While he was a winning quarterback operating Ron Rivera's offense without many mistakes to help a good defensive team, Smith's return wasn't exactly a smashing statistical success.
He did complete 66.7% but it was for only 6.3 yards an attempt and a passer rating of 78.5 Besides the completion percentage, those numbers didn't challenge what Mitchell Trubisky did for the Bears last year.
The question for the Bears is whether they would want to bring in a 37-year-old passer for next season and pair him with Nick Foles in his second season within the offense.
The idea of doing this, and having two veteran influences with a drafted quarterback behind them learning might be ideal.
Then again, all of that pales in comparison to the possibility the Bears could trade for Russell Wilson.
New England and Jacksonville could be among the teams who might have interest in Smith, if not the Kansas City Chiefs. Even his original team might regard him with more interest now. San Francisco GM John Lynch last week had said the team might need a better backup quarterback behind Jimmy Garoppolo, considering a high percentage of games missed due to injuries.
While the fit with Nagy might look ideal, there is a big difference.
The Bears really didn't operate the Kansas City style of offense Smith knew and ran, so it would mean switching back to the style of play which didn't work last season. This included more shotgun snaps and more inside zone runs. The Bears succeeded with bootleg action, a quarterback under center much of the time and outside zone runs.
They would need a more mobile version of Smith to run what worked for them last year.
Also, a 37-year-old quarterback who doesn't have a reputation for a strong arm would be trying to make sure Nagy kept his job. The Bears might want to stake the future of the coaching and GM regime on a quarterback with greater past success, if they can land one.
Then again, Nagy may just like the idea of having two quarterbacks he's familiar with operating his offense.
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