{"id":42515,"date":"2026-01-27T23:38:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T23:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42515"},"modified":"2026-01-27T23:38:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T23:38:24","slug":"chiefs-resurrected-alex-smiths-career-now-could-do-it-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42515","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs Resurrected Alex Smith&#8217;s Career, Now Could Do It Again"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure data-player-type=\"mini\"><\/figure>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_2358,h_1326\/c_fill,w_2160,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Farrowhead_report%2F01kg0rtnn740ezytngsz.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\">KANSAS CITY, Mo. \u2013 Sam Darnold certainly didn\u2019t take a linear path to this year\u2019s Super Bowl, although he was quick to remind the room Sunday night that he\u2019s been there before.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\">Most don\u2019t remember because he wasn\u2019t the 49ers\u2019 starter in 2023, but he did help San Francisco earn a berth opposite the Chiefs in an overtime Super Bowl thriller two years ago. And although he was only Brock Purdy\u2019s backup, that season with Kyle Shanahan rejuvenated Darnold\u2019s career.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_8640,h_4860\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/arrowhead_report\/01kg0s04h5sxkw29wepb.jpg\" alt=\"alex smit\" \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-4\">Instant success in Kansas City<\/h2>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\">In 2013, Andy Reid did something similar for Alex Smith in Kansas City. Reid and Smith won their first nine games that year and finished in the playoffs. And that\u2019s one reason why Smith earned the No. 5 spot on Mike Greenberg\u2019s top-five quarterback career resurrections.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\">\u201cHow many times have you heard people say the words, \u2018Alex Smith is a bust\u2019?\u201d Greenberg asked on Tuesday morning\u2019s edition of <em>Get Up<\/em>. \u201cIn San Francisco, he was 19-31 in his first six years, missed an entire season with injury, and then came back roaring. Went 13 and three and 2011 and won a playoff game.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\">\u201cWent to Kansas City, won 50 games there in five years, one of the original resurrection stories.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_287,w_1776,h_999\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/arrowhead_report\/01kg0s2vdm3hvyjfnys1.jpg\" alt=\"alex smit\" \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\">Indeed, Smith went 50-26 as the Chiefs\u2019 regular-season starter from 2013-17, including Patrick Mahomes\u2019 2017 rookie season. He landed on a Reid staff that included Doug Pederson, Eric Bieniemy and Matt Nagy.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\">Smith, the No. 1-overall selection in the 2005 NFL draft (when Aaron Rodgers slid to the Packers at No. 24), guided the Chiefs to four playoff berths in five years. He joined Kurt Warner, Drew Brees, Steve Young and Jim Plunkett on Greenberg\u2019s all-time list.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_274,w_2700,h_1518\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/arrowhead_report\/01kg0s48mqkb0shgx53c.jpg\" alt=\"jim plunket\" \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-12\">Darnold 2.0<\/h2>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\">And as soon as this offseason, the Chiefs could put a quarterback on a path similar to the one Darnold just navigated.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\">Zach Wilson, who ironically replaced Darnold as the Jets\u2019 starting quarterback, could be that man. While New York drafted Darnold third overall in 2018, the Jets took Wilson at No. 2 overall in 2021. Wilson would look great with Chiefs logo on his helmet, especially if he needs to start and win early season games.<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_3993,h_2246\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/arrowhead_report\/01kg0s61ngkxca997z8d.jpg\" alt=\"zach wilso\" \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"inline-text-16\">Mahomes backups have gone only 2-8 in starts with him on the sideline.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\">Wilson spent 2024 in Denver with Sean Payton, Bo Nix and the Broncos. In March, he signed a one-year contract as an unrestricted free agent with Miami. He\u2019d likely be open to a similar deal to learn from Reid and Mahomes in Kansas City.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-18\">And other than Mahomes, the Chiefs have just one quarterback currently under contract to take them through an offseason while Mahomes rehabs his surgically repaired knee. Prior to the end of the 2025 season, Kansas City signed Chris Oladokun to a new contract through 2026.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-20\">\n<figure><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KANSAS CITY, Mo. \u2013 Sam Darnold certainly didn\u2019t take a linear path to this year\u2019s Super Bowl, although he was quick to remind the room Sunday night that he\u2019s be<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kansas-city-chiefs"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Chiefs Resurrected Alex Smith&#039;s Career, Now Could Do It Again - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42515\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chiefs Resurrected Alex Smith&#039;s Career, Now Could Do It Again - 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