When Alex Smith was making the media rounds today at the Super Bowl he probably knew he was on his way to being traded. The Kansas City Star’s Terez Paylor has reported that the Chiefs are trading Alex Smith to the Washington Redskins.
And now ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that Alex is getting a new four-year extension as part of the trade, and Chris Mortensen has the details.
On the agreement in principle. Alex Smith will average $23.5 million per year in new money on the extension and $70 million in guarantees. Nobody will be able to review that contract for awhile because officially there is no contract. https://t.co/kY9DTZH2RT
— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) January 31, 2018
More from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport:
The #Redskins gave QB Alex Smith a 4-year extension worth $94M, source said. He gets a whopping $71M in guarantees.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 31, 2018
Alex got paid. An average of $23.5 million a year is fourth highest in the league among quarterbacks, only behind Matt Stafford, Derek Carr and Andrew Luck.
This was a key part of the analysis that I think some were missing with a possible Smith trade: he was going to need a new contract. He had one year left on his deal.
Smith said earlier today during Super Bowl media rounds that he thought he had earned the right to be part of the trade conversation. I read that as a nod to the extension. No one’s trading for him if he’s not going to sign a long-term deal with them (sorry, Cleveland). Or at least no one is trading anything significant without the assurance he’s there for a while.
I see Alex’s new contract with Washington as good news for the Chiefs. They’re not just renting him. They’re in it for the long haul with this new contract and that means they probably gave up something significant to get him.
Adam Schefter said this morning the price was a second-round pick but we’re waiting for final details of what they agreed to.