Credit Alex Smith for much of Chiefs’ success

Sports is all about competition.

But not everyone can play at the same time. And there’s the rub. Everyone wants to play.

When the Kansas City Chiefs drafted Patrick Mahomes as the No. 10 pick overall in the NFL draft two years ago, the writing was on the wall for Alex Smith, then the Chiefs’ top quarterback.

Teams don’t draft a player that high if they don’t plan to play him sooner rather than later. Smith had a banner year in 2017, but a home playoff loss in the first round sealed his fate. One wonders what the Chiefs would have done if they had made it to the conference finals or the Super Bowl.

The situation played out about as well as it could. The Chiefs traded Smith to the Redskins, who had just traded away their quarterback to the Vikings.

Smith handled it all as a true professional. He knew the handwriting was on the wall when the Chiefs drafted Mahomes. He didn’t lose the quarterback job in KC because he didn’t play well. He lost it because Kansas City thought its future was brighter with an inexperienced but talented Mahomes.

If the first three weeks are any indication, it appears the Chiefs were right. Mahomes was setting passing records after just three games.

That doesn’t take anything away from the success Smith had in Kansas City. In fact, Smith apparently was a good teammate and mentor.

Mahomes has talked about the value of sitting and learning for a year. That value was enhanced by the person from whom he learned while sitting.

“I will come back to last year and being in that room with Alex (Smith), having that opportunity to see how he worked,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid explained to reporters. “For a young guy, that’s invaluable. Alex was not one who was going to hide anything or play games with him or anything like that. He kept it all out in the open and was secure enough, that wasn’t a problem … He came into a good situation with Alex and I said that was priceless for him. There’s no way he could repay Alex with having that experience. That was phenomenal.”

Mike Florio said Smith’s compensation for his efforts was a one-way ticket out of town, but he also received a lucrative new contract from the Washington Redskins. That was probably going to be the outcome anyway, regardless of whether Smith had or hadn’t helped Mahomes.

Florio wrote: “It’s a testament to Smith’s character that he didn’t perceive the younger player as a threat but as a colleague. Mahomes didn’t draft himself to Kansas City; the team selected him, after trading up in round one to do so. Smith did the selfless thing, teaching someone he had no obligation to teach and making it easier for his employer to move on from him.”

Football commentator Peter King spoke with Patrick’s father, former Major League Baseball player Pat Mahomes, and asked him about the sort of mentoring Patrick was getting. Pat spoke highly of coach Andy Reid, but spoke even more highly of Alex Smith. Smith, both Mahomes men said, made it a point to teach the younger Mahomes everything he knew to prepare him for the task ahead.

King said: “Dads understand and appreciate help given to their children. So Pat Mahomes told Smith several times last year how much he appreciated what he did for his boy. Unspoken was the fact that they both knew Patrick was there to take Smith’s job.”

“That’s what’s so admirable about what Alex did all season for him,” Pat Mahomes said. “I know how it was when I came up (to the Minnesota Twins in 1992). I remember one time that year asking Jack Morris how he threw his split-finger fastball. He said, ‘Get away from me … You’ll be trying to take my job next year.’”

The season is a long way from over, but if Kansas City happens to make a run in the playoffs, give some credit to Alex Smith for being a class act and a pro’s pro.

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