The Kansas City Chiefs head into the 2017 season with Alex Smith installed as their starting quarterback, but Patrick Mahomes will be pushing him sooner rather than later for the job. The Chiefs traded up to the No. 10 pick to secure Mahomes, which suggests they are looking to move on from Smith sooner rather than later.
The Chiefs depth chart behind Smith and Mahomes is pretty weak. It currently consists of Tyler Bray and Joel Stave. The Chiefs do not appear to be in the market for another quarterback, but if they wanted to really shake things up, they could always bring in the man who replaced Alex Smith in San Francisco.
On Wednesday, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt was asked on NBC Sports Radio if he would have a problem with his team signing Colin Kaepernick to a contract. He said he would not, but he also did not expect Andy Reid to come to him with the notion of signing Kaepernick because of the Alex Smith dynamic. This comes courtesy of our friends at Arrowhead Pride:
“You know I really wouldn’t,” Hunt said. “Obviously, we have an interesting dynamic in regards to Colin in that we have Alex Smith as our starter. Because of that, I wouldn’t anticipate that Andy (Reid) would come to me with that. But, generally, I’m not going to tell our head coach or our GM not to bring in a player if they think that player can bring us some success on the field and make us better. Now there are certain circumstances where guys get in trouble off the field and that is something as an organization and as a family we care about. We’re not going to bring those types of players in. In terms of a player like Colin, I would have no hesitation bringing him into the organization.”
It actually makes some sense, but it’s still something that we can add Alex Smith to the list of reasons Colin Kaepernick is not signed anywhere!
We have not heard from a lot of owners, so it is interesting to hear someone go on the record with his thoughts on the issue of Colin Kaepernick. In fact, as far as I can tell, New York Giants owner John Mara is the only other owner who has gone on the record about Kaepernick this offseason. Mara said the team never considered signing him, and while he did not offer a specific reason why, he did say he received more emotional mail than he had on any other issue.
Training camp is underway for half the league, with the remaining teams getting started Thursday through Saturday. There are several notable veteran free agents on the market, including Colin Kaepernick. We might see a few get signed in the next few days, but the bulk of them will be unsigned until an injury opens up a roster spot. Coaches and some national media folks continue to think Kaepernick will be on a roster when the season starts. I guess we’ll continue to wait and see how that plays out over the next six weeks.