Alex Smith defends Chiefs drafting QB in first round

Alex Smith may have felt threatened by the Kansas City Chiefs not only taking Patrick Mahomes in the first round of the draft, but trading up to do so. Yet the quarterback understands why his team did it and defended the move from the GM’s perspective.

“If any of us were the GMs, this is in my opinion maybe the most important position in all of sports. You’d be crazy not to be stockpiling talent,” Smith said in a video posted by Chiefs.com’s Pete Sweeney. “You’d be nuts not to, in my opinion. So I get it. At the same time, that doesn’t change my focus. I still feel like I got a lot of years left. I still feel like I’m getting better.”

Chiefs QB Alex Smith spoke to the local KC media about the drafting of Patrick Mahomes for the first time Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/KbBNI1nVwI

— Pete Sweeney (@pgsween) May 17, 2017

Smith also talked about the awkward situation of having to share the quarterback room with a young up-and-comer who is trying to take your job.

“I don’t think you want to shy away from anything. I think you just want to be real, you want to be honest. It can be awkward, but you kind of embrace that. Sometimes it can be awkward, but you embrace that,” said Smith.

Smith is used to this sort of situation, as he experienced it in San Francisco when he was unseated by Colin Kaepernick. But he’s a better quarterback now, so anyone replacing him would have to do pretty well.

Smith has led the Chiefs to 11 wins in a season three of his four years in KC, reaching the Pro Bowl twice.