The Kansas City Chiefs are building an offense around their quarterback in hopes that Alex Smith will lead the team to a Super Bowl win. Smith has received a lot of criticism as a quarterback. He is considered a game manager who is not good enough to be considered a franchise quarterback but not bad enough to be a backup. Nothing divides the Chiefs fan base more quickly than a debate over Smith and if he deserves to be the starter.
Alex Smith Must Prove Himself in 2016
When the Chiefs started out the 2015 season with a 1-5 record, Smith received a lot of the blame. Chiefs’ fans wanted to give Chase Daniel the reins of the offense. “Daniel will take risks, Daniel will throw the ball downfield and Daniel can’t be worse than Smith,” were cries from upset Chiefs fans. The Chiefs had a good team on paper. They shouldn’t be losing to these teams like this with an offense that was supposed to be more improved with the signing of Jeremy Maclin in the off-season to hopefully give Kansas City a much needed number one receiver. Kansas City even made some offensive line signings that appeared promising but turned out to be injured most of the season.
In 2013 and 2014, it was easy to argue that Kansas City needed more offensive power. Those offenses relied heavily on Jamaal Charles to carry the team and Smith proved it well by throwing short passes to Charles. Nobody could blame him though. The number one receiver both those seasons was Dwayne Bowe. The tight end position was weak for a while as the Chiefs searched for someone to fill the holes that Tony Gonzalez left back in 2009 as he searched for a Super Bowl ring that he would never receive. Kansas City has found that possible replacement in Tony Gonzalez in Travis Kelce. He might never fully live up to future Hall of Famer in Gonzalez but Kelce is working hard to try to get to that level.
Kansas City has beefed up their offensive line this off-season in hopes of giving Alex Smith more time to throw the ball. Jeremy Maclin became the first receiver to ever gain a 1,000 yards receiving with Alex Smith as a quarterback and Travis Kelce is fresh from a Pro Bowl season. Jamaal Charles hopes to come back from his second torn ACL injury, with back-ups Charcandrick West and Spencer Ware fully capable of taking over if Charles goes down with another injury. The team also signed Rod Streater and Mike Williams in hopes that at least one of these two receivers might make the team. These moves seemed to improve the offense already but Kansas City wasn’t quite done. They then drafted guard Parker Ehinger from Cincinnati as well as wide receivers Demarcus Robinson and Tyreek Hill from Florida and Western Alabama respectively.
The Chiefs do still have some questions on the defensive side after losing Sean Smith to the Oakland Raiders and Hussain Abdullah to retirement. But they are hoping to make a run at the AFC West title this season. Kansas City is making some serious moves to compete in the division and are hoping all these moves work. One thing is for certain though. The offense needs Alex Smith to have his best season in the NFL in 2016 and if he fails it will all come down on him. The offense is improved and it’s time for Alex Smith to prove everyone wrong and that he can be a franchise quarterback. The 2016 season will be his time to shine.
Will he be able to?
