Redskins Rumors: Alex Smith to sign four year extension, third round pick sent in deal

The Washington Redskins acquired Alex Smith on Tuesday night. According to reports, they will sign him to a four-year extension to keep him with the team for five seasons.

The State of the Union Address wasn’t the biggest news coming out of Washington on Tuesday night. The Washington Redskins officially swung a deal with the Kansas City Chiefs in order to acquire Alex Smith to be their quarterback. This means that Kirk Cousins is going to walk in free agency and Smith will be the quarterback of the present for the Redskins.

That said, it also is looking like Smith is going to be the quarterback of the future for the team as well. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Redskins are expected to sign Smith to a four-year extension when the trade is complete. Reportedly, the extension contains $70 million in guarantees and $23.5 million per year. Smith had only a single year left on his deal, so an extension was always likely.

However, a four-year extension seems like a lot for a player of Smith’s quality. Though Smith is coming off a great year, he is more of a slightly above average quarterback than a franchise guy. He’s really a game manager and his arm strength isn’t consistently good.

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The fact that Smith is turning 34 in May makes this extension risky, as it will take him through his age 39 season. Quarterbacks lacking in arm strength often have to resort to dinking and dunking at that point, so if Smith regresses, that could hurt the Redskins offense. Signing him to a two-year extension would have made sense, but four is a bit much. Perhaps the latter two seasons will be non-guaranteed. That would make sense for the team.

In addition to the news that Schefter reported about the extension, he also reported that the Redskins are likely to give up a third round pick in the deal and an unidentified player. This is just speculation, but perhaps Su’a Cravens could be included in the deal. Given the confidence the team has in Montae Nicholson and the fact that Cravens inexplicably left the team just before last season, it would make sense for the team to move on from him. A fresh start could benefit both sides.

Next: Predicting the results of the 2018 quarterback carousel

For now, the compensation is still uncertain, but we should know the official details in the morning. This situation is still fluid, and it will be interesting to see what happens.