As of today, Alex Smith leads all NFL quarterbacks in

[Best22]

Touchdowns (15)
Yards (1959)
Completion percentage (72.4%)
Fewest interceptions thrown (0)
Yards per attempt (8.7)
Rating (120)
Game winning drives (3)

Unfortunately he is the:
2nd most sacked quarterback (21)

(He has played 7 games, while 30 other quarterbacks have played 6, but these stats don't lie)

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Kelce is, hands down, the best route-runner among TEs in football. Frankly, it's hard to argue that he isn't a flat out better player than Gronk right now and Gronk's simply a product of having Brady/Belichick.

His footwork and ability to sell fakes is remarkable. And he's precise as hell so Smith trusts that he's gonna be where Smith expects him to be.

Gronk's physical strength may make him a tougher matchup at times because you can't body him off a route, but Kelce's ability to make space for himself is unparalleled. He's ****ing awesome.

He's a joy to watch play.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

Yeah he's frustrating

He does 8 things right but forgets the most important

Well he's still relatively cheap and that helps. And when Ross Travis gets run, he tends to step on his dick.

Travis had a chance to put Harris on the street but he didn't get it done. Escobar probably should've but I wonder if they just went with familiarity instead with Harris. And Harris is a hell of a lot more athletic than Escobar.

The problem is that Harris has 2-3 game stretches where he's genuinely good. Not NFL starter kind of good, but an outstanding #2 tight end. And Smith actually trusts him for some weird reason.

But I wouldn't be heartbroken if we moved on next year. I still like the talent but at this point if the consistency isn't there, it's never gonna be.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Kelce is, hands down, the best route-runner among TEs in football. Frankly, it's hard to argue that he isn't a flat out better player than Gronk right now and Gronk's simply a product of having Brady/Belichick.

His footwork and ability to sell fakes is remarkable. And he's precise as hell so Smith trusts that he's gonna be where Smith expects him to be.

Gronk's physical strength may make him a tougher matchup at times because you can't body him off a route, but Kelce's ability to make space for himself is unparalleled. He's ****ing awesome.

Yeah, with his ability and Reid's mad scientist type offenseive scheme mind, when things are going he's so tough.

Plus the hill speed just opens up so much. Robinson is coming together nicely

Fun to watch. I'm hoping getting the ol back healthy opens the run game ip

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Was just popping in to post that article.

Really nice breakdown. That first throw may be the best pure throw I've ever seen him make. Not the hardest, not the biggest stakes and not the most important, but in terms of reaching back and letting one fly with pinpoint accuracy, you just can't beat that.

One major takeaway from this analysis and why I think it's fair to say that Smith is genuinely different this year - look at how often he throws at a guy who's back is turned. He's gotten to the point now where if he sees a defender's back turned, he presumes his target is going to be open by the time the ball gets there. That's prototypical 'throw the guy open'.

He's genuinely different. He's not a gunslinger, but he's become a bit like Brady in that the degree of difficulty he's willing to attempt now is damn high. He's reached that point of 'aggressive but not reckless'. He's not going to be Rodgers and see a 50/50 ball and think that the benefits of the TD will outweigh the benefits of a pick, but if he sees a 55/45 ball, he'll take the shot. Whereas in the past he needed more like 80/20.

And Rodgers is pretty sure he can fit a 20/80 ball in there. Which Smith just shouldn't be attempting because he doesn't have that arm talent.

He's playing perfect football for the skills he has.

Yeah at this point you have to go with the hot hand. Unless Alex just ****s up horribly in the playoffs, I think he's going to be the QB next year.

It doesn't seem like Andy is willing to develop Alex and finally see that top tier QB show himself just to sell him off for a young QB who will need time to develop.
2004 McNabb is the only QB I can see that Andy has had that is playing as well as Alex is right now.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Well he's still relatively cheap and that helps. And when Ross Travis gets run, he tends to step on his dick.

Travis had a chance to put Harris on the street but he didn't get it done. Escobar probably should've but I wonder if they just went with familiarity instead with Harris. And Harris is a hell of a lot more athletic than Escobar.

The problem is that Harris has 2-3 game stretches where he's genuinely good. Not NFL starter kind of good, but an outstanding #2 tight end. And Smith actually trusts him for some weird reason.

But I wouldn't be heartbroken if we moved on next year. I still like the talent but at this point if the consistency isn't there, it's never gonna be.

Yeah and none of the 3 can block worth a shit. I would keep Harris or Travis and really try and find a good blocking tight end

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

Yeah, with his ability and Reid's mad scientist type offenseive scheme mind, when things are going he's so tough.

Plus the hill speed just opens up so much. Robinson is coming together nicely

Fun to watch. I'm hoping getting the ol back healthy opens the run game ip

Robinson dropped that ball Sunday and got shuffled off to the side a bit. Perhaps that's fair.

But I think Robinson's gonna make us forget all about Conley. His initial explosion is just a better fit for the offense than Conley's slow build up. Conley could stick around as a red-zone target but I think Robinson will have won that job outright by next season. I really really like what I'm seeing from him out there.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Yeah at this point you have to go with the hot hand. Unless Alex just ****s up horribly in the playoffs, I think he's going to be the QB next year.

It doesn't seem like Andy is willing to develop Alex and finally see that top tier QB show himself just to sell him off for a young QB who will need time to develop.
2004 McNabb is the only QB I can see that Andy has had that is playing as well as Alex is right now.

I think they're gonna have to move on from him to jump start the next window. Odds are he's probably not going to play at this level for very long, so well high and move on

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Robinson dropped that ball Sunday and got shuffled off to the side a bit. Perhaps that's fair.

But I think Robinson's gonna make us forget all about Conley. His initial explosion is just a better fit for the offense than Conley's slow build up. Conley could stick around as a red-zone target but I think Robinson will have won that job outright by next season. I really really like what I'm seeing from him out there.

Yeah, I think grudgen talked about it, but a cover 2 hole shot like that is gonna result in a hit unless the qb just has a howitzer.

He peeked at the safety and dropped it but he's looked pretty solid thus far.

I would actually like to see them use Conley in the slot a little bit next year. Maybe in the bolden type role

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Yeah at this point you have to go with the hot hand. Unless Alex just ****s up horribly in the playoffs, I think he's going to be the QB next year.

It doesn't seem like Andy is willing to develop Alex and finally see that top tier QB show himself just to sell him off for a young QB who will need time to develop.
2004 McNabb is the only QB I can see that Andy has had that is playing as well as Alex is right now.

I just don't see how they can; they need that cap money and they can't extend him to free it up. And after having given an extra 1st to move up for Mahomes, if they can recover an early 2nd (c'mon Cleveland, you know you want to), I think the opportunity cost is just too high.

I think Andy will bang on the table to keep him - sure. No coach in NFL history would be eager to give up on a known quality at QB, even if he's only average to slightly above. But I think Veach will have to make the hard choice here and pull the trigger.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

Yeah, I think grudgen talked about it, but a cover 2 hole shot like that is gonna result in a hit unless the qb just has a howitzer.

He peeked at the safety and dropped it but he's looked pretty solid thus far.

I would actually like to see them use Conley in the slot a little bit next year. Maybe in the bolden type role

Didn't hear the broadcast team since I was at the game and I haven't re-watched it. I just remember seeing the drop in real time and thinking "damn, gotta have that one young buck..."

Young players need to make that play to build report or they don't get many more chances to do so. I never noticed that he was about to get blown apart so it just looked like a concentration problem; I thought he was running before securing the catch.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Didn't hear the broadcast team since I was at the game and I haven't re-watched it. I just remember seeing the drop in real time and thinking "damn, gotta have that one young buck..."

Young players need to make that play to build report or they don't get many more chances to do so. I never noticed that he was about to get blown apart so it just looked like a concentration problem; I thought he was running before securing the catch.

If we're talking about the one he dropped that ended up drawing a defenseless wr penalty, yeah, he got drilled.

Which as my old high school offensive coordinator used to say, "you're gonna get hit either way, so catch the ****ing ball".

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I just don't see how they can; they need that cap money and they can't extend him to free it up. And after having given an extra 1st to move up for Mahomes, if they can recover an early 2nd (c'mon Cleveland, you know you want to), I think the opportunity cost is just too high.

I think Andy will bang on the table to keep him - sure. No coach in NFL history would be eager to give up on a known quality at QB, even if he's only average to slightly above. But I think Veach will have to make the hard choice here and pull the trigger.

I do remember hearing that Alex would take a paycut. If that happens, we would have quite a bit of money from that restructure and departure of DJ/Tamba.

Andy is old enough to know that his clock is ticking. This is his football team and I think he's going to want to keep the QB that is playing out of his mind to give him the best chance.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

If we're talking about the one he dropped that ended up drawing a defenseless wr penalty, yeah, he got drilled.

Which as my old high school offensive coordinator used to say, "you're gonna get hit either way, so catch the ****ing ball".

Yeah, but I thought there was another one.

The one he drew the penalty on...yeah, he learned a lesson there. He got hit BECAUSE he dropped the ball. If he isn't lunging for his drop, he can get himself situated for that shot and he doesn't end up getting blasted quite that bad.

That was the old 'be the hammer, not the nail' saying. He was grasping for a ball he didn't field clean because he was skittish and that was what ended up getting him exactly the outcome he was hoping to avoid.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Yeah, but I thought there was another one.

The one he drew the penalty on...yeah, he learned a lesson there. He got hit BECAUSE he dropped the ball. If he isn't lunging for his drop, he can get himself situated for that shot and he doesn't end up getting blasted quite that bad.

That was the old 'be the hammer, not the nail' saying. He was grasping for a ball he didn't field clean because he was skittish and that was what ended up getting him exactly the outcome he was hoping to avoid.

I don't remember another drop by Robinson. When was it?

[O.city]

Originally Posted by RunKC

I do remember hearing that Alex would take a paycut. If that happens, we would have quite a bit of money from that restructure and departure of DJ/Tamba.

Andy is old enough to know that his clock is ticking. This is his football team and I think he's going to want to keep the QB that is playing out of his mind to give him the best chance.

With what they gave up for Mahomes and with the upside of his rookie deal at qb, they're gonna have to pull the bandaid.

Smiths value will never be higher.