After trading for the former No. 1-overall pick on Wednesday, the Washington Redskins inked a contract extension with quarterback Alex Smith.
The Washington Redskins have their quarterback.
One day after the Redskins officially announced they had acquired three-time Pro Bowler Alex Smith in a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs, the former No. 1-overall pick signed a contract extension.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
While Smith is going to be in his first season with the Redskins, the 33-year-old is now in his 14th season after entering the NFL in 2005. Over the course of his career, Smith has appeared in 156 regular season games with 151 starts. In those 156 games, Smith has thrown for 31,888 yards with 183 touchdowns to 96 interceptions.
During the 2017 season, Smith passed for career highs in both passing yards (4,042) and touchdowns (26) while leading the NFL in quarterback rating at 104.7. Additionally, in his five seasons with the Chiefs, Smith became the first player in NFL history to attempt more than 400 passes in five straight seasons without throwing double-digit interceptions.
"I'm glad it's finally here," Smith told Larry Michael, Voice of the Redskins, in his first interview as a member of the Redskins. "Like you said, I feel like I've been waiting for this for a long time. For it to finally be official, it's like get in the building and be here and kind of start the process. So I'm excited for it. I'm excited that we're here now and get the ball rolling."
After being in Kansas City's system for the last five seasons, Smith will be presented the challenge of learning head coach Jay Gruden's offensive system.
It's a task he's more than ready to face as the new leader of the Redskins.
"There's so many different things that go into winning football games and striving to win a championship, there's so many different inputs and I think it's finding a way to take those all together and we all have a hand in it, we all have a part in it," Smith said. "And how can we figure out to go out there and win ballgames. And win the division, get into the playoffs and win a championship. That's what everybody's striving to do. …We've got to figure out how this team is going to do that."
Smith added that after months of waiting to see where his future would land him, he's simply ready to get back into the day-to-day flow of being an NFL quarterback.
"Kind of had to stay away and the speculation and the talk, this and that, I look forward to getting to work, getting to know my teammates, getting down to the kind of nitty-gritty, getting down to football," Smith said. "That's what we all signed up to play. A lot of this other stuff – dressing up – isn't why we do this. So I look forward to getting to work."
Smith's introductory press conference will take place on Thursday afternoon at the Inova Sports Performance Center at Redskins Park in Loudoun County, Va.
