Marcus Petersdidn't seem fazed by the trade that will send him from Kansas City to Los Angeles next month. The other blockbuster trade the Chiefs will complete once the new league year begins on March 14, though?
That one Peters has a hard time understanding.
Speaking with Michael Robinson on NFL Total Access on Monday, the soon-to-be-ex-Kansas City Chiefs DB said he would have never pulled the trigger on the deal that will send quarterback Alex Smith to the Washington Redskins for a third-round pick and cornerback Kendall Fuller.
"No," he said when asked if he agreed with the Smith trade. "Man, Alex, Alex don't get enough respect. And they need to start putting some respect on that man's name. Because I've seen that man get thrown under the bus too many times and he took it as a man. And he never complained about it. He don't turn over the ball. And he know how to win."
There's no denying Smith's numbers and his regular-season wins. In 2017, he led the league with a 104.7 quarterback rating and threw for a career-high 4,042 yards and 26 touchdowns. In his five seasons with the Chiefs, he logged 53 regular-season victories. But the knock on Smith has always been playoff wins, something he only achieved one of (a 2015 wild-card win over the Texans) in his tenure as signal-caller in K.C.
Peters said that's not exactly Smith's fault, though. The collapse against the Titans in the wild-card round last month was on Peters and the defense, the DB said.
"That was our fault for messing up the playoffs," Peters said. "That was our fault."
Next season will go a long way to putting an end to the "Is Alex Smith a great QB?" debate. But until that time comes, and until Smith's first season with the Redskins wraps up, count Peters firmly in the "yes" corner of that argument.
