I'd like to suggest they should have signed Justin Houston 1st, since he's like infinity times better.
It will be cheaper to franchise tag him.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Either player COULD have been franchise tagged. Chiefs did this in the correct order. They traded having very little leverage against Smith for having a bunch of leverage against Houston.
The Smith deal isn't THAT bad for KC. He's now payed like a top 10 guy, and not top 5. The only reasonable replacement for Smith is either already on our roster now at a very cheap price, OR will be drafted between now and the end of Smith's guaranteed money. Free agent quarterbacks that are superior to Alex Smith don't exist every year, and frequently don't pop up over a period of years. By the time Smith's deal has run it's course, we'll know what we have in the young guys....OR, one of our cheap young guys takes over.
Houston now has to negotiate a favorable deal or get tagged. Then, if he still doesn't negotiate, we can franchise him again.