Redskins Agree to Trade for Alex Smith
According to multiple sources, the Redskins have agreed to trade a third round draft pick and a player to be named tomorrow for Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback Alex Smith. The Redskins have also agreed with Smith on a four year contract extension, in addition to the one year he had remaining on his contract with the Chiefs. The trade cannot be made official until the new league year begins, on March 14th.
This appears to be the mark of the end of the Cousins era in Washington. While Cousins was a top 10 QB through most of his time in DC, with the Redskins posting a losing record this year, he was clearly not going to be the solution to their problems. Instead, the solution that this trade indicates the Redskins will take is freeing up more money to spend on an Offensive Line and a Defense, both of which are desperately needed in Washington.
The fact of the matter is that Cousins was a great Quarterback, and worked well in the Redskins system. To be able to throw for over 4000 yards without having any receiver with over 1000 is just flat out impressive no matter how you look at it. However, until the Redskins can field a defense that allows less than 30 points each Sunday, they won’t be in the playoffs soon anyway, so Cousins might not be worth the king’s ransom he will end up being paid.
This trade also seems to eliminate the possibility of the Redskins drafting a QB in the first round. Any die hard Redskins fan who cares about them winning should want them to work on their defense in this year’s draft. However, any fan who cares about making football fun to watch in any way, shape, or form should have been rooting for Baker Mayfield to be the Redskins next franchise QB. How can you not want the guy who gets suspended for grabbing his crotch at an opposing player? That’s a serious question.
This move does not fix any problems in DC. Smith has been a league average starting QB for most of his career, and will, in all likelihood, continue this in Washington. That said, he is a good bit cheaper than Cousins and if the Redskins want a shot at the playoffs in the years to come they will need that money. The four year extension seems to show that the Redskins to not consider Smith to be solely a rental, but instead a QB to move the organization forward as they rebuild.
