Alex Smith might be one day closer to becoming the 29th quarterback to start for the Browns since 1999.
Smith, the starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs since 2013, will be on the trading block when the 2018 league year begins on March 14, according to a report by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. That isn’t exactly a bulletin; the Chiefs traded up to draft quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the 2017 draft and are eager to get the Mahomes era going.
The Chiefs’ 2017 playoff season ended on Jan. 6 with a stunning 22-21 loss at home to the Tennessee Titans. Smith completed 24 of 33 passes for 264 yards and two touchdowns.
Browns General Manager John Dorsey was GM of the Chiefs for five years before taking the same job with the Browns. One of his first moves in his former job was to trade a 2013 second-round pick plus a conditional pick to the 49ers for Smith, the first pick in the 2005 draft.
A Smith-to-the-Browns offseason trade was speculated the day Dorsey was named Browns general manager.
Smith, who turns 34 in May, is coming off the best statistical season of his career. He passed for 4,042 yards while throwing 26 touchdown passes and only five interceptions. His 104.7 passer rating led the NFL.
Browns head coach Hue Jackson has made it clear he wants a veteran quarterback on his team next season. He does not want to go through another season in which no quarterback on the roster has an NFL victory. That was the case when the 2017 began with DeShone Kizer, Cody Kessler and Kevin Hogan. It ended the same way with the Browns finishing 0-16.
“It’s a challenge, but what difference does it make right now?” Jackson said on Dec. 20. “I’m just being very honest. Nobody is going change the record because that’s the situation. It is what it is. That has a lot to do with a lot of different things as you go through it.”
If the Browns trade for Smith, it’s unlikely to change the Browns’ plans about drafting a quarterback. The Browns have the first, fourth, 33rd and 35th overall picks plus nine more.
Dorsey has made it clear improving quarterback is his top priority. He cannot talk publicly about a potential trade for Smith, but he and the Chiefs can work out the details of a trade before March 14. The trade with the 49ers was agreed upon before it happened.
It is worth noting Smith was nothing special as a quarterback until he was united with Coach Andy Reid in Kansas City. He played more than 11 games only twice in seven years with the 49ers, going 7-9 in 2006 and 13-3 in 2011, when he threw 17 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Smith was 38-36-1 as a starter with the 49ers. He is 50-26 with the Chiefs.
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