Jaworski rates Chiefs QB at No. 20 among NFL starters

[Tribal Warfare]

Jaworski rates Chiefs QB at No. 20 among NFL starters

The Kansas City Star
Former NFL quarterback-turned-broadcaster Ron Jaworski ranks new Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith No. 20 among the NFL's 32 starting quarterbacks.

That's according to Jaworski's ratings on ESPN's MediaZone site, transcribed from his three-minute daily segments dubbed "Jaws' QB Countdown" on SportsCenter and NFL Live.

Smith, of course, was acquired in a trade from San Francisco this offseason, and has yet to throw a pass in Kansas City (aside from OTAs, that is).

Here are some excerpts from Jaworski's evaluation of Smith:

“A year ago, Smith was coming off his best season in the NFL, having led the 49ers to the NFC Championship. This year, he’s the starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs. It was a great move by (Chiefs coach) Andy Reid to acquire Smith.

“The defining element of Smith’s play is efficiency. He executes the offense the way it’s designed, and he makes very few mistakes. Last season – for the second year in a row – he was exceptional on first down. In 2012 he led the NFL in first-down passing, with a quarterback rating of 119. Much of it came off play-action, or in the case of the 49ers, hard run-action out of base personnel. There was no better play-action quarterback last season than Smith. He had a quarterback rating of over 132.

“Smith has been outstanding out of multiple tight end personnel over the last couple of seasons. No quarterback has thrown the ball more with three tight ends on the field. You don’t see that very often in today’s NFL.

“This play was beautifully designed with all three tight ends to the same side. First, look at the impact of the run-action on the two linebackers and the safety. This was hard run-action. Then you see that Delanie Walker’s vertical route occupied the corner. That left Vernon Davis matched on a safety, a safety that initially reacted to run. He had no chance on Davis’ wheel route.

“One area Smith improved in 2012 was in the pre-snap phase of the game. He was much better at the line of scrimmage checking and audibling.

“It will be interesting to see what Andy Reid does in Kansas City. Don’t be surprised if he turns Smith loose a little bit and features an up-tempo offense with an emphasis on quick throws. Remember, Alex Smith played for Urban Meyer at Utah.”

Other QB's that Jaworski has analyzed so far:

No. 32 Matt Flynn

No. 31 Jake Locker

No. 30 Kevin Kolb

No. 29 Chad Henne

No. 28 Mark Sanchez

No. 27 Christian Ponder

No. 26 Brandon Weeden

No. 25 Michael Vick

No. 24 Ryan Tannehill

No. 23 Carson Palmer

No. 22 Sam Bradford

No. 21 Josh Freeman

[Garcia Bronco]

I wonder who number 1 will be

[Pasta Little Brioni]

IR: P. Manning

[rico]

Originally Posted by PGM

IR: P. Manning

[houstonwhodat]

Jesus,

I shudder the thought of Drew Brees retiring.

[el borracho]

Las Vegas has the over/under on KC at 6.5 this year. Hooray for spending valuable draft picks to acquire the 20th-rated passer, to accomplish nothing in the short term, and not build for the future. Congratulations, KC!

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Originally Posted by rico

I'm only going to get worse as our little buddy is back.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by el borracho

Las Vegas has the over/under on KC at 6.5 this year. Hooray for spending valuable draft picks to acquire the 20th-rated passer, to accomplish nothing in the short term, and not build for the future. Congratulations, KC!

You would be wise to dump some money on the over.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by el borracho

Las Vegas has the over/under on KC at 6.5 this year. Hooray for spending valuable draft picks to acquire the 20th-rated passer, to accomplish nothing in the short term, and not build for the future. Congratulations, KC!

Mediocrity has it's price.

[Garcia Bronco]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

Mediocrity has it's price.

I think the Chiefs have 7 solid wins with that scheduled. None against the Broncos, but 7 solid wins.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by Garcia Bronco

I think the Chiefs have 7 solid wins with that scheduled. None against the Broncos, but 7 solid wins.

We'll take you at home at least once. But yes, 7 is the top-out.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Originally Posted by Sweet Daddy Hate

We'll take you at home at least once. But yes, 7 is the top-out.

10-11 wins is a possibility

[Sandy Vagina]

9-7 in 2013

11-5 in 2014

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

My order of preference:

1) Smith proves everyone wrong and is BETTER in Andy Reid's offense than he was in Jim Harbaugh's. His efficiency holds up when asked to do more, and his atrocious performance on 3rd down becomes a distant memory. He becomes a near-elite/top 15/borderline top 10 QB.

2) Smith is WORSE than he was in Harbaugh's offense, preventing the Chiefs from tying themselves to him long-term.

3) Smith is about the same as he was in Harbaugh's offense, though his efficiency numbers drop when asked to throw more often and be more aggressive with the football. He remains somewhere between the 15th and 22nd best QB in the NFL, good enough to make the playoffs with a strong defense and running game but probably not good enough to win at a significant level when matched up against teams with elite QBs.

If I was to rank them in order of what I think is likely, I put about a 75 percent chance on 3, 20 percent on 2 and 5 percent on 1.

I have a feeling we see an extension if 3 is what ends up happening. And I don't think that's really a good thing (unless they draft the heir apparent in the background and have him ready to take over by 15 or 16).

I agree
Posted via Mobile Device

[Setsuna]

Romo is #15 apparently. Only because of his inconsistency though. I'd take Romo for 2 seconds before I took Alex Smith.

[Chiefs Pantalones]

I'm optimistic about this year. Every year I am though. If we surpass two wins I'm celebrating. Baby steps.