[The Franchise]

http://www.walterfootball.com/draft2013.php

1. Kansas City Chiefs - Geno Smith, QB, West Virginia

I wrote earlier that this pick largely depended on what would happen with Scott Pioli. If Pioli were retained, he'd draft Star Lotulelei or Luke Joeckel and then use his second-round pick on Mike Glennon, whom he likes. If Pioli were fired, however, as the awesome @saveourchiefs movement was pushing for, the new general manager would almost have to take a franchise quarterback.

Well, it was the latter situation that occurred. Andy Reid was hired, while Pioli was axed. New regimes mean new quarterbacks, but whether that means Reid will spend this selection on a quarterback or sign his aging, scrambling signal-caller from Philadelphia remains to be seen. But if history is any indication, Reid will use this pick on Geno Smith.

Reid eschewed all the top free-agent quarterbacks when he took over as the Eagles' head coach, taking a mobile, Big East product with a good deep ball and upside instead. Well, Smith is a mobile, (former) Big East product with a good deep ball and upside. He fits perfectly into Reid's offense.

ESPN and other outlets will tell you that Smith nor any other signal-caller is worth taking No. 1 overall, but that could easily change. Remember two years ago when ESPN was mocking Da'Quan Bowers and Nick Fairley to the Panthers? Well, Cam Newton ballooned to the top, as will some other quarterback this year. It could be Smith, Tyler Wilson, Matt Barkley or Glennon. We'll see. Four months is a long time. If this doesn't happen, the Chiefs could always trade down.

By the way, I'm doing this live because I thought it'd be fun to get instant feedback. I'm going to post my mock anyway, so why not do it this way? Follow @walterfootball for updates.