Revisiting the Chiefs-Redskins Trade Involving Alex Smith and Kendall Fuller

Washington Redskins quarterback Alex Smith has been at the forefront of the NFL world recently in wake of ESPN's E:60 "Project 11" that chronicles the veteran's recovery from a gruesome leg fractured suffered back in 2018.

How did we get here? Well, the Kansas City Chiefs drafted Patrick Mahomes and decided to help Smith out by trading him to the Redskins, who gave him a monster contract extension. Unfortunately for Washington, Smith has only played 10 games since signing his four-year, $90 million deal.

All in all, this trade far from worked out from the Redskins.

We'll never know what could have been if Smith didn't suffer the (likely) career-ending injury, but thanks to the Redskins trading a rising young stud in cornerback Kendall Fuller (even though they managed to poach him from the Chiefs in free agency this year), in addition to a third-round pick in exchange for a 34-year-old QB who would cost them over $22 million per season, one could view this as an unfavorable deal, given the fact it was clear KC was NOT going to be keeping Smith in any capacity.

Now, the Redskins are saddled with that mammoth of a contract, while the Chiefs got two incredibly productive seasons with Fuller, one of which resulted in a Super Bowl. That third-round pick was also eventually used to acquire defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi, who has played in all 32 games since he was drafted.

Trading for Smith was by no means a bad decision in terms of the player that he is -- it's more of an indictment of the poorly-operated Redskins front office making a franchise-altering move for an aging QB when the rest of the roster still needed a ton of work.

The Chiefs probably win this deal regardless of Smith's health status.