San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith, who took his team to the NFC Championship two years ago and had the highest completion percentage in football (70 percent) before suffering a concussion and losing his job to second-year sensation Colin Kaepernick, is a prime candidate to be traded this offseason, according to Yahoo! Sports.
The 49ers have been placing calls about high-end cornerbacks like Aqib Talib of the New England Patriots and Dominique Rogers-Cromartie, who could pull in between $8-9 million annually according to the Yahoo! report. One way to free up that kind of money would be to have Alex Smith off the payroll.
Sources say the Kansas City Chiefs could be interested in Smith, the one time first overall draft pick who was considered a bust until head coach Jim Harbaugh arrived last season and made good use of Smith's skills. The Chiefs have a desperate need at quarterback, but hold the top pick in the draft with no quarterback prospects justifying such a lofty selection. The Arizona Cardinals could also be in the mix.
Smith's base salary for the next two seasons is $7.5 million, and with bonuses Smith is due to earn $8.5 million next year, which would make him the highest-paid backup quarterback in NFL history. Despite his generally mistake-free play the past two seasons, there are major question marks surrounding Smith. Due to injuries and/or ineffective play, Smith has played in 16 games just twice in seven seasons. He has only passed for 3,000 yards or more once and has never thrown 20 touchdown passes. Before Harbaugh became coach, Smith had only completed 60 percent of his passes once in five seasons.
Still, the accuracy and intelligent decision-making he has shown the past two years make him a sight for sore eyes in Kansas City and Arizona, whose passing offenses ranked dead last and 28th respectively according to pro-footballreference.com. The Chiefs, considered the most interested by one source, suffered through the second most interceptions thrown last year (20). The only team ahead of them was the Cardinals with 21.
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
