SANTA CLARA — Five years ago, the 49ers traded Alex Smith to the Kansas City Chiefs, a familiar pasture that also welcomed ex-49ers quarterbacks such as Joe Montana, Steve DeBerg, Steve Bono and Elvis Grbac.
These days, the Chiefs are increasingly thankful to Smith, not only for what the quarterback did in his tenure there (four playoff berths in five seasons) but in how he mentored Patrick Mahomes, who’s taking the NFL by storm with 10 touchdown passes in the first two games of the season, an NFL record.
“You guys know Alex,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Wednesday on a conference call with Bay Area media. “And you know how he prepared and the kind of person he was — or is.
“(Mahomes) was able to sit in that (quarterbacks) room and see how Alex went about his business as a pro, and a successful pro.”
Smith was traded to Washington in March — Kansas City got cornerback Kendall Fuller and a third-round draft pick — because the Chiefs were convinced that Mahomes, the No. 10 pick in 2017, was ready to take over. They appear to have been right, by a mile.
Mahomes, 23, threw four TDs in the season opener, a road victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, and followed that with six TDs last Sunday in Pittsburgh. The back-to-back AFC Offensive Player of the Week will make his first-ever home start Sunday against a 49ers pass defense that has allowed more yards through two games (556) than all but seven other teams. (Bright-side note: One of the seven are the Chiefs, and they rank last with 860 passing yards allowed through two games.)
While trying to cool the hype around Mahomes, Reid was effusive in his praise of Smith, the No. 1 overall choice of the 49ers in 2005 who went 38-36-1 before losing his job to Colin Kaepernick amid the 2012 team’s Super Bowl run.
“Not everybody does it like Alex. That’s the thing,” said Reid, who has been coaching for 36 years, the last 26 in the NFL. “I’ve been doing this a couple years and not everybody goes about their job as thorough as Alex. And Alex is a very intelligent guy, so you combine those two things and see why he’s successful.
“For Patrick to see that — Patrick also is intelligent and wants to be good, and he’s humble, and he wasn’t afraid to learn from Alex,” Reid added. “To follow somebody who does it perfect, in preparation, that’s special.”
Mahomes’s style is radically different than that of his predecessor. Mahomes airs it out in a carefree manner, a gunslinger, whereas Smith earned a reputation as a conservative game manager.
Smith went 50-26 in regular-season starts for the Chiefs, but only 1-4 in the playoffs, including a wild-card exit last season in a 22-21 loss to the Tennessee Titans at Arrowhead. Mahomes made his first career start in the previous game, an otherwise meaningless regular-season finale in which he threw for 284 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions in a walk-off 27-24 win at Denver.
“He taught me how to make sure I was ready for any situation that presented itself in a game. I owe him a lot,” Mahomes said of Smith in an interview with NBC Sports’ Peter King.
Even before this 2-0 start, much was made of Mahomes’ arm strength, along with his pro-sports pedigree as the son of former Major League pitcher Pat Mahomes.
“I understand the excitement. I got it. I mean everybody is excited,” Reid said. “The reality is he’s been out there for two games and he’s heading for Game 3 and we’re just trying to get ready to play against a good football team.”
Reid didn’t bite when asked about recent comparisons between Mahomes and Hall of Famer Brett Favre, whom Reid coached as a Green Bay Packers assistant. Reid did allow for one obvious similarity: Mahomes and Favre throw right-handed.
They share that too with 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo, who has also energized a fan base with his potential.
Reid’s read on Garoppolo: “I have a lot of respect for him. He’s a good football player. He does a lot of things well. He worked under one of the best to ever play (Tom Brady), and now he’s with a guy, with Shanahan, that’s unbelievable. (Shanahan) has had a great career grooming quarterbacks and being one of the top offensive minds.
“He’s in a good place.”
And what kind of place will the 49ers defense be against Mahomes?
“He looks fantastic,” 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said. “He’s got a hose for an arm. … He’s not being underestimated.”