Today in NFL Draft rumors: Chiefs are considering a quarterback

As Matt Conner pointed out earlier today, there are always lots of rumors that come up the week of the NFL Draft. Sometimes it's a team putting out bad information to help themselves and sometimes it's the truth finally bubbling to the surface.

In the past few days, we've had two national reporters indicate that the Chiefs are possibly in the quarterback market. Smokescreen or the real deal?

Count Chiefs as sleeper QB team, depending how 1st round falls. Andy Reid history, even if it's 2nd or 3rd rd. Carr among QBs linked.

— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) May 2, 2014

Team that will consider a 1st-round QB: The #Chiefs. Negotiations with Alex Smith aren’t progressing well. Must keep long-term options open

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 5, 2014

Why is all of this coming out right now? Are the Chiefs putting this word out? Is it just a coincidence that it's coming out now (no, it is not)?

A cynic might look at this and think the Chiefs are putting this out there to let Alex Smith's camp know that they have other options. In other words, a way to squeeze the best possible deal from Smith's reps. The last update we had on Smith's contract talks came from Pro Football Talk, who wrote that talks were going slowly. The talk then was that the two sides were talking about a deal worth $14-17 million per year.

I wrote a while back that the Chiefs should wait until after the draft to extend Alex Smith for this very reason. You never know who will fall on draft day and if a top quarterback does fall and he is the Chiefs best player available, they don't want a long-term contract with Smith stopping them from pulling the trigger.

I discussed some of the quarterback talk here. Also, a reminder that the Chiefs have shown interest in Aaron Murray.