Chiefs not considering benching Alex Smith for Patrick Mahomes this season

[thegame214]

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/c...s-this-season/


Per Jason La Canfora


Despite their recent struggles on offense, the Chiefs are not inclined to make any switch at quarterback, team sources said, though the staff does remain very bullish on first-round pick Patrick Mahomes and his ability to take over as soon as next season. Mahomes continues to impress teammates and coaches with his efforts in practice and how he conducts himself in meetings and around the facility, and there is a strong sense that he could be a franchise quarterback sooner rather than later.

Even with their recent falloff in the passing game and running game, and with Mahomes' athleticism and huge arm, there is no movement to move on from veteran Alex Smith now and the only way he would lose his job would be to injury, sources said. Smith has tailed off from what was an MVP-like first half, with the Chiefs storming to a 5-0 record and being talked about as perhaps the best team in football.

They've gone into a 1-4 swoon since then and face a critical AFC game with the Bills this weekend, with the Chargers suddenly surging in the AFC West and the Raiders still capable of making a run, too. Smith has failed to maintain the big plays downfield that helped the team get off to such a torrid start -- the dink-and-dunk nature of the offense under him was part of the allure of Mahomes in the draft, as his gunslinger approach is the opposite of that -- and rookie running back Kareem Hunt has been bottled up as well.

Smith is coming off his worst game of the season in a loss to the lowly Giants coming out of the bye. He threw multiple interceptions, which is out of character for him. Coach Andy Reid was somewhat critical of his play after that, but Smith continues to get the bulk of starting reps and is entrusted with getting this team to the postseason.

However, numerous other GMs anticipate the Chiefs shopping Smith, who has one year left on his contract, in the offseason. He is signed to a team-friendly deal that is easy to deal, he would have significant value to any contending team that may want to upgrade at quarterback (Jacksonville; Arizona or Denver if they opt not to rebuild) and he is a proven, steady hand who teammates love and who protects the football (almost to a fault). The Chiefs seem poised to turn the offense over to Mahomes and it would be anything but a surprise should Smith leave Kansas City via trade after arriving there from a swap with the 49ers upon Reid's hiring.

[farmerchief]

Originally Posted by NJChiefsFan

Mahomes looked very good in preseason. He couldn't be taking that big of a step back in practices.

I think this has everything to do with the Chiefs being loyal to Alex and nothing to do with what they think of Mahomes.

Bingo, we have a winner!

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Coach

The WCO is a complex terminology, for sure. So while I do understand the reasoning for Mahomes to not play this year due to the complexness of the WCO, the flip side of the argument is, wouldn't the learning curve somewhat speed up if he were to apply it to a real live game situation instead of learning it on the classroom with no on-the-job learning experience?

If the Chiefs were 8-3 instead of 6-5, even with Smith's struggles right now, I can see the reasoning of not putting him into it because of the 8-3 record. The end result would still most likely be bounced out of the playoffs in a Wild Card round. But unfortunately, they are not 8-3 and with Smith's struggles on top of that, it just makes it frustrating to watch, considering most of everybody knows that the end result will most likely either be one and done, or possibly (if they keep losing) missing the playoffs.

So why not give the kid a chance? There is similar precedent, the 2004 NYG team where they were 5-2, but Kurt Warner was struggling and was benched in favor of Eli Manning. They did miss the playoffs that year, but it paid dividends down the road.

I know this will be an unpopular opinion. Here's what I saw in Patrick mahomes. Kid could have a terrific career as big Ben right now. Never know how to read a defense but can freelance like crazy. Big Ben for most of his career held on to the ball for 10seconds. It wasn't until haley came along 10 years later and forced him to run an offense with Ben kicking and screaming that he changed. That's fine... But big Ben got clobbered. I don't want mahomes to get clobbered.

Other qbs like him... McNabb couldn't stay healthy. Brett Favre went an entire career hopped up on painkillers. Aaron rodgers of all these guys seemed to find the best balance of staying healthy. I'd like him to become more rodgers than big Ben. And that starts with forcing him to learn how to be a qb before he realizes he can get away with constantly freelancing. Anyway... I know thats unpopular. But I think he can learn more on the bench right now than on the field.

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by Coach

The WCO is a complex terminology, for sure. So while I do understand the reasoning for Mahomes to not play this year due to the complexness of the WCO, the flip side of the argument is, wouldn't the learning curve somewhat speed up if he were to apply it to a real live game situation instead of learning it on the classroom with no on-the-job learning experience?

I don't see how throwing him to the wolves on a bad football team running an offense tailored to a different quarterback is going to 'speed up the learning curve'.

[thegame214]

Smiths last game is vs NYJ pending a win

Mahomes will start vrs Oakland

[TEX]

Originally Posted by thegame214

Smiths last game is vs NYJ pending a win

Mahomes will start vrs Oakland

Bet not.

[thegame214]

Originally Posted by TEX

Bet not.

I'm down for a bet.

This will be absolute hell week for Andy and Chiefs PR, if we see another game like yesterday vs the Jets, the amount of embarrassing boos at home will be deafening against our rival.

They will save face and make the move.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by thegame214

I'm down for a bet.

This will be absolute hell week for Andy and Chiefs PR, if we see another game like yesterday vs the Jets, the amount of embarrassing boos at home will be deafening against our rival.

They will save face and make the move.

I wouldn't do it. Reid has proven far too stubborn to make a bet like that.

But, to each his own!

[Chiefnj2]

Since the day Andy acquired him, Alex has never had competition for the starting spot. Mahomes hasn't changed that. There was never a competition for the #1 QB spot. Mahomes wasn't groomed to start this year.

Taking Smith out of the equation, the offense is not in synch. Too many penalties. Bad play calling. Can't run block for their lives. You had two receivers trying to catch the same screen pass yesterday. The final INT was a miscommunication between Smith and the WR.

Don't blame Smith for the state of the team. Smith is the same QB that Harbaugh "fixed" 5 years ago. He. Is. What. He. Is. Blame the head coach/offensive coordinator for riding this shit show.

[wazu]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

I know this will be an unpopular opinion. Here's what I saw in Patrick mahomes. Kid could have a terrific career as big Ben right now. Never know how to read a defense but can freelance like crazy. Big Ben for most of his career held on to the ball for 10seconds. It wasn't until haley came along 10 years later and forced him to run an offense with Ben kicking and screaming that he changed. That's fine... But big Ben got clobbered. I don't want mahomes to get clobbered.

Other qbs like him... McNabb couldn't stay healthy. Brett Favre went an entire career hopped up on painkillers. Aaron rodgers of all these guys seemed to find the best balance of staying healthy. I'd like him to become more rodgers than big Ben. And that starts with forcing him to learn how to be a qb before he realizes he can get away with constantly freelancing. Anyway... I know thats unpopular. But I think he can learn more on the bench right now than on the field.

This is the best case I’ve seen for continuing with Smith.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2

Since the day Andy acquired him, Alex has never had competition for the starting spot. Mahomes hasn't changed that. There was never a competition for the #1 QB spot. Mahomes wasn't groomed to start this year.

Taking Smith out of the equation, the offense is not in synch. Too many penalties. Bad play calling. Can't run block for their lives. You had two receivers trying to catch the same screen pass yesterday. The final INT was a miscommunication between Smith and the WR.

Don't blame Smith for the state of the team. Smith is the same QB that Harbaugh "fixed" 5 years ago. He. Is. What. He. Is. Blame the head coach/offensive coordinator for riding this shit show.

Good points, but I'm going 50/50 on this one. In this modern league, the QB is more important than ever before. Take the responsibilities we held the QB to in the 1990's? And multiply by 100. That's where we're at.
If Smith is out of sync, the whole offense and by extension the entire TEAM becomes "out of sync". Smith's "lack of sync" has spread to the entire unit and the result is lazy, sloppy, and "we give up"-football.
I witnessed the defense stay on fire and save Smith's bacon for 4 seasons prior to this one, and Smith wasn't able to reciprocate until it was much too late.
Any team, like any business, should be moving in two directions; forward and up. The Chiefs are backsliding.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by Coogs

Hell, if it is that hard, why tell him the play in the headset and have him repeat it. Give him one of those forearm band playlist things, and tell him "page 3, play 5" and let him read it to the team. If he knows the keywords... which he should by now... that shouldn't be a problem.

Which is great right up until the point where he has to try and read a defense.

[tooge]

Yeah, Smith sucks. Thing is, why hate on him. If the Chiefs asked me to play QB for millions of dollars a year I'd happily do it. I'd suck, but I'd do it. It's not Alex Smith's fault that he sucks and he's still the QB of the team. That falls on Reid. CP should be filled with Reid sucks threads rather than Alex sucks threads. Shame on this organization for sticking with guys too long. I'm not of the opinion that the Alex Smith trade was a bad one. Hell, he gave the Chiefs several winning seasons, and a couple of playoff wins which we hadn't seen here in quite a while. But now, the new Sherrif is in town, and it's time to get rid of Smith. I'm done bashing Alex. I'm bashing Reid from here on out until he gives the young kid a chance, ALA Jared Goff, DeShawn Watson, etc.

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by farmerchief

Bingo, we have a winner!

I second that!

[TwistedChief]

Originally Posted by tooge

Yeah, Smith sucks. Thing is, why hate on him. If the Chiefs asked me to play QB for millions of dollars a year I'd happily do it. I'd suck, but I'd do it. It's not Alex Smith's fault that he sucks and he's still the QB of the team. That falls on Reid. CP should be filled with Reid sucks threads rather than Alex sucks threads. Shame on this organization for sticking with guys too long. I'm not of the opinion that the Alex Smith trade was a bad one. Hell, he gave the Chiefs several winning seasons, and a couple of playoff wins which we hadn't seen here in quite a while. But now, the new Sherrif is in town, and it's time to get rid of Smith. I'm done bashing Alex. I'm bashing Reid from here on out until he gives the young kid a chance, ALA Jared Goff, DeShawn Watson, etc.

I agree with all of this, but Alex brought us...one playoff win (not two). One epic playoff collapse. Two typical Chiefs playoff losses.

Sorry, but Alex Smith doesn't get the benefit of the doubt on an imaginary playoff win. Not after yesterday.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by tooge

Yeah, Smith sucks. Thing is, why hate on him. If the Chiefs asked me to play QB for millions of dollars a year I'd happily do it. I'd suck, but I'd do it. It's not Alex Smith's fault that he sucks and he's still the QB of the team. That falls on Reid. CP should be filled with Reid sucks threads rather than Alex sucks threads. Shame on this organization for sticking with guys too long. I'm not of the opinion that the Alex Smith trade was a bad one. Hell, he gave the Chiefs several winning seasons, and a couple of playoff wins which we hadn't seen here in quite a while. But now, the new Sherrif is in town, and it's time to get rid of Smith. I'm done bashing Alex. I'm bashing Reid from here on out until he gives the young kid a chance, ALA Jared Goff, DeShawn Watson, etc.

To be fair, if we follow your logic, CP should be filled with "Hunt sucks" threads. He's the one who hired Pioli, Dorsey, Reid, et. al. If we blame Reid for Smith then we have to blame Hunt for Reid.