Chiefs quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Alex Smith. (Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports)
The Kansas Chiefs facility got a welcome visitor on Monday with Alex Smith dropping in and hanging out with Patrick Mahomes.
Two Kansas City legends were in the house on Monday at the Chiefs‘ facilities.
You’d expect Patrick Mahomes to be there with the 2021 season coming up fast. The surprise was Alex Smith joining him for a photo.
It’s great to see the two former teammates looking so happy and healthy.
Alex Smith dropped by the Chiefs facilities to say hi to Patrick Mahomes
Smith spent the best years of his career in Kansas City. He joined the team via a trade from the 49ers in 2013 and went 50-26 in five seasons with 102 touchdowns and 17,608 yards. Three of those campaigns were Pro Bowl-caliber.
The biggest barrier to Smith continuing with the Chiefs turned out to be Mahomes, KC’s No. 10 overall draft pick in 2017. Mahomes sat behind Smith during the 2017 season, but it was pretty clear he was the future of the franchise. They ended up trading Smith to Washington in 2018.
Smith suffered a horrendous injury while playing with Washington. His recovery was long and complicated, keeping him out for the entire 2019 season, but he triumphantly returned to play in 2020. He retired this spring.
Even though Mahomes has proven himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the game, Smith still holds a respected place with the Chiefs. There are clearly no hard feelings about replacing him from any quarter. The team did the right thing in banking on Mahomes and Smith got to move on too.
Smith is now an analyst with ESPN and took the time to drop in on his old team.