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Published on 02/27/2013 at Wed Feb 27 14:29.
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We all found out today that the worst kept secret is as official as it can get until March 12th… That secret is that the Kansas City Chiefs have traded for QB Alex Smith. They are giving up this years second round selection (34 overall) and a conditional pick next year. So what kind of impact will this have on the Denver Broncos?

While on paper, this seems to be a slam dunk win for the Chiefs, a little perspective is in order. For starters, quarterbacks are generally not traded to another team to which they go on and have great success, especially not former starting quarterbacks still in their “prime.” When was the last time one of these trades really worked out, and once you tell me, ask yourself “man, how far back did I have to go in history to find this shining example?”

The quick answer is also the most obvious answer… Joe Montana! Joe Cool was traded from the San Franchisco 49ers to the Kansas City Chiefs back in 1993. That was 20 years ago. And although that move worked out of the Chiefs, it never netted them a championship; Not to mention that Joe Montana is still regarded as quite possibly the best QB in NFL history… What I’m trying to say is that it’s practically sacrilege to even mention Smith in the same article as Montana. So although we all might want to sound smart by bringing this up, lets try to refrain from using that particular instance as an example.

Recent history has Matt Schaub (career backup) being traded to the Houston Texans. It took a few years, but that move seems to be panning out. Another recent trade that worked out was the Seattle Seahawks trading for Matt Hasselbeck (career backup). Again, it took a few years, but that move worked out. But again, I”m struggling to find non-backup QB trades that were successful. We saw Brett Favre traded to the NY Jets, but that was a bust. We  saw him traded from the Atlanta Falcons to the Green Bay Packers, but again, Favre wasn’t a starter when that trade took place. We saw John Elway, Eli Manning, and Phillip Rivers all traded, but they were traded in the offseason of their rookie year before they reported to any mini-camps, let alone played a game. We have seen quarterbacks that were cut/free agents have great success though. Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Kurt Warner, and heck, Brett Favre are but a few of these examples.

So what does this move really mean to the Broncos? It means that Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil are about to have career games against the Chiefs. Alex Smith is a sack machine. He has only started 2 full seasons in his seven year career. In those 2 seasons, he had 35 sacks (2nd year in league) and 44 sacks (2011 season). What I’m trying to say here is that Smith is like Knowshon Moreno…. He always gets hurt, and while he has flashes of greatness, he always finds a way to catch the lightening rail back to reality.

What else does this mean to the Broncos? Not much. While Smith is probably an upgrade over Matt Cassel, he certainly isn’t a “no brainer” upgrade. In Alex Smith’s best passing year (2011), he still only mustered up 3,144 yards. To put that into perspective, Smith passed for a whopping 73 more yards per game than Tim Tebow. To be fair to Smith, I should mention that he passed for 30TDs over the last 2 seasons…. you know, about the same amount of TDs that Peyton Manning gets after 13 games (ok, that wasn’t so nice… sue me). So when you take a step back from the hysteria and take a deep breath, you’ll see that this move will probably have minimal affect on the Denver Broncos, at least as long as Peyton Manning is under center. While I have no doubts that the Chiefs will never again have the #1 overall pick while Alex Smith is their starting QB, I also have very little doubt that the Chiefs will still only be the second or third best team in the AFC West as long as Alex Smith is under center.

Lets hear your comments below. Feel free to put me in my place with well thought out opinions.

 

  • http://ehalseymiles.com E. Halsey Miles

    I’m not sure how the Brees to Saints comparison doesn’t work. Brees was supplanted by the pick of Rivers; Smith was supplanted by the pick of Kaepernick. In both cases, everyone agreed that the QB has a lot to offer, and could fit in a lot of places. I don’t think Smith is as good as Brees, but I think he’s grown into a capable quarterback and is going to be a big upgrade over Cassel.

  • Pete Baron

    Brees wasn’t TRADED, he was a free agent. Thats why I have him in the cut/free agent list ;)

  • Jim_Jebow

    I think Smith will carry the Chefs to an 8-8 record this year, they will beat out the Chargers and Raiders for 2nd place in the AFC West IMHO

  • Cheyenne Kid

    They will try to be a ball control team with so so success against most teams so I agree it is not a big upgrade!

  • areferee

    Alex Smith still has the taste of “green weenie” on his palate from the rectal sandwich he was given in the Gay, I mean, Bay Area. So Andy and The Chefs give him a new chance to prove he is a legitimate starter.

    He has to be an improvement over “Patman and Bobbin”. Cassel was a figment of McDaniels imagination and poor Brady Quinn realizes the luck of the “Irish” ran out long ago at the end of his metriculation from South Bend.

    What that means to the Orange and Blue is mostly which jersey number to have in their sights. Little else, except that their win/loss record should look a little different this season.

    San Fran may regret the trade when the sophomore slump sets in on “The Kap”. Alex and Andy will have a small reason to smile when that happens… and it will.

    Let’s hope the Broncos and their fans are smiling, as well.

    Damn, I hate February!

  • Pete Baron

    Think the Niners should bring in Tebow? Once you stop laughing and your tears dry up, it kinda makes sense when you think about it. Tebow is a fantastic deep ball thrower, and he can run that pistol offense with the best of them. PLUS, Kaepernick is the darling of the Bay Area. Nobody is calling for his head like fans in NYC were already doing with Sanchez. That *should* keep the Tebow hysteria down. I think Tebow would be more than capable of winning 1-2 games per year if Kaepernick goes down with an injury.

  • Pete Baron

    I see Alex Smith as Kyle Orton 2.0… He’s a gap filler. He was considered a bust until Harbaugh somehow transformed the 49ers. He turned a bust into a serviceable starter, but nowhere near a savior. He’ll be for the Chiefs what Orton was for the Broncos…. a transition and stable presence at QB while they continue their search for a real franchise QB.

  • Pete Baron

    I should add that the Chiefs are a 7-9 win team with a stable quarterback. They had more pro-bowlers on their team than we did. While Smith won’t make them threaten us, they *might* threaten other wildcard hopeful teams…. maybe….

  • TheTroglodyte

    That actually makes sense. It would be a smart move for Tebow too to learn under one of the NFL’s best QBs coach

  • TheTroglodyte

    I really give a rats ass who the Chiefs bring in, the Chargers or the Raiders. Honestly, I hope they all improve dramatically. I don’t want to win the division because the other 3 teams suck. What a crap mentality to have. I want our A game to beat their A game. And if it can’t then we weren’t going to win the SB anyway so let’s expose it during the 16 regular season games so we can address it!

  • Pete Baron

    You realize that the Patriots only make the playoffs yearly because of their weak division right? Would you rather be an annual superbowl contender, or a team that sometimes makes the playoffs and sometimes doesn’t? I’d rather be there every year. Get in the dance, and then see if you can step up. If one thing in recent years has proven to be true, the regular season means nothing; it’s all about what you do in the post season… The Giants sure looked like they needed major ironing out in the regular season, yet they won 2 superbowls. The Ravens looked dead in the water with major needs in the regular season, yet they just won the superbowl.

    Beating yourself up in the regular season means nothing… playing great or getting hot in the playoffs is all that matters. Because of that, I’d much rather be virtually given a playoff seed than battling our way to a 9-7 or 10-6 record to *hopefully* get to the dance, cause once we get in, there is no reason to think that just because we succeeded in the regular season that it’ll translate to playoff success.

  • http://www.facebook.com/thomas.bell.71653 Thomas Bell

    Does this mean Brady Quinn will be out of the NFL? Hard to imagine anyone wanting his as their #2 after his performance. Forever known as the guy who couldn’t beat out Tebow in two seasons.

  • TheTroglodyte

    “You realize that the Patriots only make the playoffs yearly because of their weak division right?”

    I couldn’t disagree more.

    Personally, I don’t want to panzy ass into the playoffs and hope to get hot at the right time. I want to be the best team going into the playoffs.

    How you do anything in life is how you do everything. Part of the reason the Giants got hot in the playoffs is because they were battle tested and had to earn their right to be there week in and week out.

    The attitude of hoping we can just get in because our division sucks comes about as close to pissing me off as I get. There is no honor in it. There is no sacrifice in it. There is no gamesmanship in it. It’s just hoping your team gets lucky and to me that isn’t why I watch or enjoy this game.

  • Pete Baron

    You totally misunderstood me. It isn’t that I want to be lucky and get in by default… I want to be a dominant team that gets in because we deserve to be in, but having a weak division never hurts our odds… I don’t want to be like the 2011 team that didn’t belong and backed in because of a weak division, but I also don’t want to be like our superbowl team with a 12-4 record that didn’t even win our division… And before you justifiably say that we still won the superbowl, think of it this way… What if the Patriots rip off another 16-0 season, and maybe the Jets get fluky and finish 12-4 but have a harder strength of schedule than us because they played the Pats twice… Maybe the Texans and Colts finish with 12-4 or better records… We wouldn’t qualify for the playoffs.

    It isn’t that I want to get in by default and get destroyed in the playoffs, I just want to rest a bit easier in knowing that finishing with a 12-4 or 13-3 record is “good enough” to win our division and guarantee our place in the postseason. I don’t want to be dominant, knowing we can win the superbowl, yet have to rely on other teams losing in order to get a shot. That doesn’t sit well with me.

    I totally agree and understand what you said, but I would rather have both worlds than have to worry about being the 1997 Broncos except this time having the chips fall differently and not make the playoffs…. That’s too brutal for me to fathom.

  • areferee

    Oh, STOP being so reasonable. You’re going to ruin this Website.

  • TheTroglodyte

    lol my bad!

  • TheTroglodyte

    I hear what you are saying. When was the last time a 12 – 4 team didn’t make the playoffs? How many times has that happened in the last 10 years? That’s a serious question just in case you weren’t sure.

  • areferee

    LOL!

    Pan’zy ass’ (verb):
    1. Back into a winning position because of divisional incompetence.
    2. Holding your breath waiting for Tom Brady to have a contract dispute.
    3. Piss off The Caveman by nancing around the locker room asking for a hug.

  • djunevicus@ojwatson.com

    No mention of Jay Cutler? How could that be left off of “Broncos Talk”?

  • TheTroglodyte

    LMAO!

  • Pete Baron

    Well, the 2008 Patriots went 11-5 and missed the playoffs while the Chargers went 8-8 to win the division and make the playoffs….
    Trust me, I do NOT want to be given that type of bad luck. Especially if we still have Manning playing instead of injured and having Osweiller leading us to 11-5.

  • TheTroglodyte

    So now you are saying Osweiller was a reach and John Elway only drafted him because he was Jack’s bff at Arizona?

    lol I’m just kiddin about that one

  • Pete Baron

    Actually, that’s exactly what I thought/think when we drafted him. lol. Although, I’m sure having his son speak highly of him allowed Elway to feel more comfortable and confident with Brock, but still, there was no reason why we needed to draft him. Sure, this is a bad QB year in the draft, but these types of years are aberrations (like Flacco’s playoff run), not the norm. I have full confidence that in 3-4 years when Manning retires, we can draft a QB that is just as good if not better than Osweiller will be.

  • Pete Baron

    I should have added him. Although, Cutler has more talent in his fingernail clippings than Alex Smith has in his entire body. lol

  • robtink242

    The Chiefs made a great move for the Broncos.. I can imagine the interceptions, sacks and fumbles..

  • robtink242

    We better draft the Honey Badger.. forget his pass.. his ball hawking skills is needed for our fast pace defense

  • LEMarkley

    This isn’t much different than Cassel going to the Chiefs after having an 11-5 season when Brady went down. He had a good supporting team around him and great coaches to play off his strengths. But KC didn’t have that for Cassel then and they won’t have it for awhile for Smith now. They are too much in flux with no real players stepping up as leaders. Regardless of the pro bowlers, this team will be two or three wins better with Smith until they can reform as a group, which will take more than a season.

  • Pete Baron

    OUTSTANDING!!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/toxik.zine Toxik Zine

    time to start a “creat a caption” with raider’s Briant’s mugshot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ix1Zlu6ru4

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001097620412 Seth Benesh

    Ive been saying this for months and people were laughing at me.. I want the honey badger too. Our secondary would be stacked.

  • BlackKnight

    How about Peyton Manning to the Broncos 2012. went 13-3