"Mayan Guy: Hey wanna beer? Other Mayan Guy: I'm working on this calendar, but I guess if I don't finish it won't be the end of the world…"

{Current Mood: Boss-Like}

(I know the jokes about the Mayans are old news but I’ve been waiting a while to use that as a blog title. And yay for me coming in with PSS blog #100!!!!!)

Well that didn’t take long.

Andy Reid – Head coach of the Kansas City Chefs Chiefs.

The reasons as to why he took this job over the others available to him will be piling in rapidly over the next few hours, days, weeks, etc. But I feel like there’s one school of reason that a lot of people may not consider.

This is a team that’s loaded with talented players on both sides of the ball with a glaring weakness at quarterback. It kind of makes you sit back and reflect on how terrible Kevin Kolb must be if Reid, who drafted him, doesn’t want to try and coach him again and would rather choose a team with Matt Cassel and Brady Quinn on it.

But keep in mind that the Chiefs have the #1 pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. Also keep in mind that the early buzz on this draft class, one that is stupidly rich with linemen on both sides of the ball as well as rush linebackers, is that there aren’t any quarterbacks special enough to be considered franchise players.

For all of the clock management snafus and play calling blunders that I got to laugh at over the years I got to watch Reid coach in Philadelphia, he did a pretty good job with Donovan McNabb. The lack of a Super Bowl notwithstanding, McNabb put up some impressive numbers and helped turn the Eagles into a perennial threat.

I have to believe that Reid sees enough of something he likes in one of the quarterbacks available to be drafted this year to feel like he can turn them into a franchise player.

Up until his bowl game against Syracuse, Geno Smith had been the consensus #1 pick in this year’s draft. While it was disappointing to see him fail to impress in crappy conditions in his final collegiate game, you can’t argue with the numbers he put up in his senior year under an offensive-minded head coach in Dana Holgorsen: 4,201 yards passing with 42 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 71 percent of his passes.

Invalid Argument Alert: “He was playing in the Arena League of college football conferences.” If that argument held any validity, then every quarterback in the Big XII should have been able to throw for those numbers this season. He still passed for 463 yards last season against an NFL-caliber LSU defense and has now passed for 4,000-plus yards for two years in a row.

Potentially pairing Smith with Andy Reid seems like it’s going to be a talking point that no one will really talk about at first, but one will pick up steam throughout the draft process and once the 2013 season starts. It’s not a lock that Smith is the guy that they take or that they even draft a quarterback at all OR that they even keep the #1 pick. But it seems like the most logical move to me unless Reid likes a guy like Matt Barkley, Ryan Nassib, or Mike Glennon better.

The game against Syracuse will showcase all the arguments as to why Smith can’t be a franchise quarterback: he caved under cold weather and crappy conditions, he lost his composure after a second safety was called on West Virginia for intentional grounding in the third quarter, he was a “system” guy, his decision-making and footwork need to improve, etc.

These are all things that can be improved with the right people and the right coaching staff around him. Everyone has bad games. Some people also get the chance to play against “wet paper bag” defenses like Baylor put on the field this year, but not everyone puts up 656 passing yards and eight touchdowns against them. Having Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey certainly helps but he still put up monster numbers regardless of who he was throwing to or against.

There’s a lot to like about Geno. From walterfootball.com’s Big Board analysis: “Smith has some natural accuracy with good arm strength to make all the throws. He can fire some fastballs into tight windows with phenomenal ball placement to hit receivers in stride. Smith's plus mobility allows him to pick up first downs with his feet and bail out his offensive line.” Further analysis praises him as being a good fit for an NFL West Coast offense.

And it’s not like he would be working with scrubs. Even if they get rid of Dwayne Bowe, I feel like Jonathan Baldwin could finally break out in his third season after being drafted out of Pitt in the first round in 2011. Reid has also arguably never had a player as versatile as Dexter McCluster to work with. McNabb had some great years under Reid in Philly with a bunch of no-name receivers.

Maybe Geno Smith will break the current trend of rookie quarterbacks taking the league by storm from day one and maybe he won’t but, with Andy Reid as his head coach (theoretically), he has a better shot to succeed than people give him credit for.

Oh, and that other sound you hear is Jamaal Charles’ pre-season fantasy value about to skyrocket.

Deuces,

-Ray-

P.S. If Andy Reid brings in Michael Vick to play QB for this team, disregard everything you just read.

P.P.S. Because he asked me to give him a mention, some thoughts from Mr. Andrew Lamberti via the Facebook: “no no no. Smith is good but not great, and he benefited from having two excellent WR's in Austin and Bailey. You do not take the best QB at 1 overall just cause you need a QB. you're the worst team in the league because you have multiple glaring needs. You take the Best player available, which this year is gonna end up as a d-lineman. For the record, Smith is a second-rounder and there are NO OTHER STARTING QB's in this draft!” – All valid points but if Reid takes Geno, it shows me that he feels he can turn him into something. There are a lot of good players on this team on both sides of the ball and a lot of impending free agents that may want to come to KC to play for Reid so who’s to say they can’t fix a lot of their issues in free agency?