John Dorsey: Top five moves as Kansas City Chiefs GM

3. Trading for Alex Smith

This may seem like a controversial move, but hear me out.

When John Dorsey took the job with the Chiefs, they were a train wreck. They were slated to pick no. 1 overall in the 2013 NFL Draft, which we mentioned earlier in this post is one of the worst draft classes in recent memory.

There wasn’t a clear option to rebuild the quarterback position through that draft, so the Chiefs used some of the assets they had to trade for Alex Smith, who had gone through a crazy stint with the San Francisco 49ers at the time.

Smith was benched after Colin Kaepernick sparked the 49ers’ NFC title run, despite leading the NFL in passer rating and having one of the best seasons of his NFL career. The Chiefs got Smith at a bargain basement price, and managed to come away from the 2013 NFL Draft with Eric Fisher (their starting left tackle), Alex Smith, and Travis Kelce in the top three rounds.

Not bad.

Despite the fact that Smith is not an elite quarterback, his consistency has provided some stability for the Chiefs offensively, enough that they would probably have been a force in the AFC were it not for Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos stealing the spotlight — and the division — for five straight years.

Trading for Smith — to this point — hasn’t brought the Chiefs anything but one division title, which they earned this past season. We’ll see what 2017 brings, but I think Dorsey’s move to get Smith was shrewd at the time, and quite honestly the best possible move he could have made for the team at the time in regards to the QB position.