KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss?
Let's see: Unpopular and unwanted in his old NFL city? Check. Classy in the face of media scrutiny? Check. Lost his starting job midway through last season? Check. Weathered multiple offensive coordinators and systems in his NFL career? Check.
So, in the first major move of The Andy Reid Era, the Kansas City Chiefs have phased out a "game-manager" at quarterback for … um … another "game-manager."
Oh, doctor.
Look, it's not fair to toss an anvil around Alex Smith's ankle and chuck him overboard, sight unseen.
But you can understand the trepidation among Chiefs fans Wednesday afternoon. You really can. Because phasing Smith in and phasing Matt Cassel out feels like a bit like déjà vu, all over again.
The Chiefs have reportedly surrendered a second-round pick and a future conditional pick to San Francisco for Smith in a swap that's expected to become official next month. It was the opening salvo of a new regime looking to start fresh after the old one ran the ship into an iceberg.
In March 2009, the Chiefs surrendered a second-round pick to New England for Cassel and linebacker Mike Vrabel. It was — you guessed it — the opening salvo of a new regime looking to start fresh after the old one ran the ship into an iceberg.
So, yeah, the Chiefs have been hitting an awful lot of icebergs the past five years.
What they haven't been hitting on is an answer under center.
Over the past four years, Cassel — who's expected to be released next month once Smith (due $8.5 million this fall) joins up — produced one Pro Bowl season (2010), two mediocre ones ('09 and '11), and one absolute-train wreck ('12). The former Patriots backup was solid with Charlie Weis as offensive coordinator in the fall of '10, while largely a mess before and after.
Which brings us to Smith, a former No. 1 overall pick ('05) who struggled to turn the engine over until Jim Harbaugh rolled into town, cleaned things up, and took the burden off his shoulders. Whatever you think of Harbaugh, the man knows signal-callers — how to scout them, how to identify them, and, most importantly, how to develop them. Harbaugh turned Smith from a potential bust to a viable contributor.
He also dumped the guy, rather unceremoniously, for the first mobile alternative available. That's the first thing that should give you pause.
By all accounts, Smith is competent, at worst; efficient, at best. He's not Tom Brady, nor is he Brady Quinn — in truth, he's probably somewhere in the middle. But like Cassel (and this becoming a theme), Smith's production appears to be largely dependent on his support system: His coaching, his offensive line (excellent at San Francisco; in flux at Kansas City), and his array of offensive weapons to help share the load.
When healthy, the Chiefs have the latter. But in regards to the other two, well, welcome to the first test of faith.
How soundly Chiefs faithful sleep after this one depends on how much blind trust they have in Reid, their new coach, and in John Dorsey, their new general manager, not to screw this bad boy up the way the Pioli power bloc did.
And to understand some of the restlessness, you have to understand the history in play: This franchise has become, over the past two decades, a foster home for wayward, veteran, retread quarterbacks, many of them ex-49ers. It's a movie Kansas City has seen a billion times before, and the end results have turned out to be mixed.
What the locals want is their own Andrew Luck, their own RG III, their own Russell Wilson, not somebody else's Alex Smith. The Chiefs haven't drafted a signal-caller in the first round since Todd Blackledge in 1983, a gambit that blew up in their faces so badly that they've been hesitant to run to the edge of that particular diving board ever since. (Bit of trivia: Between November 1987- August 2007, the Chiefs started just one player at quarterback during the regular season that they'd drafted themselves — Doug Hudson, for one game, back in October ‘87. He threw one incompletion, fumbled a handoff in the end zone for a safety, and was never heard from again.)
That historical trepidation was made worse by the fact that this team bumbled, for the first time since the AFL-NFL merger of 1970, its way into the No. 1 overall pick — a year too late, a year after one of the best rookie quarterback classes of all-time. In the NFL, as in life, timing is everything.
By the same token, trading for Smith is the single greatest indictment yet of this year's crop of draftable signal-callers. The Chiefs have the top pick and badly need an overhaul under center, first and foremost. Reid and Dorsey took a long look at what they had (not much), a longer look at what they could draft (also not much), and took the safe route, casting their lot with Smith and letting a second-round pick fly in the process. The new regime isn't done, either; they're almost certain to draft at least one more quarterback before the dust finally settles.
Cassel's release is likely the next step in the renovation project, and the happiest ending for all parties involved. The California native seems like a decent enough guy, but when your decent guy is loudly booed at a celebrity softball game on national television, it's safe to say he's lost the town. In the face of week after week of damning questions, Cassel tried last fall to put on a brave face — that is, when he wasn't looking shell-shocked, like a deer in headlights — but you could tell, deep down, Kansas City was killing him.
He'll get a fresh start. So will the Chiefs. That's a victory for both sides.
Mind you, how much of a victory on Kansas City's end remains to be seen, especially when you break down the numbers. Over the past five seasons, Smith is 29-22-1 as a starter; Cassel is 29-33-0. Smith's touchdown-to-interception ratio: 1.78; Cassel: 1.45. Smith's completion percentage: 60.4; Cassel: 58.9. Smith's sack ratio over the last five years: 7.8 percent, on average; Cassel: 7.14.
In other words, Smith alone doesn't make the Chiefs a Super Bowl team tomorrow — or even a playoff-worthy one. What it does is get them a ticket out of the Jags/Cards/Browns/Bills laughingstock club, you'd think. At least, you'd hope.
You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter @seankeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com
