PEBBLE BEACH—Alex Smith initially didn’t realize that Thursday marked seven years to the day he got traded from the Kansas City Chiefs to make way for Patrick Mahomes’ championship spree.
“I knew he had a crazy bright future, but to know he was going to go on this run, it’s the greatest start to a career of all-time. That’s just the facts,” Smith said. “No one would have had the audacity to predict this.”
Smith, playing in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, beamed over the prospect of Mahomes securing a third straight Super Bowl win next Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles. It would make for Mahomes’ fourth ring in six seasons since Smith got shipped to Washington.
“The last time they did not make an AFC Championship Game was with me,” Smith said with a wry smile.
Smith, of course, opened his NFL career as the 49ers’ No. 1 overall draft pick in 2005, and after helping turn the franchise into a playoff contender, he got traded in 2013 to the Chiefs for a pair of second-round picks.
Smith guided the Chiefs to the playoffs in four of five seasons, and once they summoned Mahomes for his job, he headed to Washington in 2018. A right-leg fracture his first season there put his life in jeopardy, but he returned in 2020 to win NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors before retiring and launching a second career in broadcasting.
A decade after his Pebble Beach debut, Smith impressively worked through Thursday’s opening round with pro-am partner Mackenzie Hughes. Entering today’s second and last loop at Spyglass Hill, they were tied for 25th place, one shot ahead of former 49ers quarterback Steve Young and his partrner Beau Hossler.
Back in Kansas City on Thursday, Mahomes finished his press conference by praising Smith’s impact on him as a 2017 first-round pick: “Just showing you how to be a professional, that was the biggest thing, and how to go about your business. Obviously a great dude, somebody who still comes to my charity golf tournament to this day.
“More than anything, he made an imprint how you prepare, how you go about your business every day and how you get better,” Mahomes added. “It helped speed up the process for me in becoming who I am.”
Mahomes said similar words about Smith before the 2019 season’s Super Bowl comeback over the 49ers, a franchise the Chiefs again beat for last season’s Lombardi Trophy via an overtime rally.
Flashing back to their days as teammates, Smith knew Mahomes had a bright future based on his demeanor, work ethic, love of the game, intelligence and focus. But Mahomes’ ability to come through in the clutch was something that first had to been seen to be believed.
“That’s the stuff you have no idea about in a practice environment,” Smith said. “The thing I saw then, that obviously shows up when calling it ‘clutch,’ is fearlessness. Listen, the only way you operate in those situations unaffected is if you’re really fine with missing. Right?
“That’s the ironic thing. That’s like taking the last-minute shot in basketball – you miss more than you make. You just have to be comfortable with it, because if you’re too consumed by it, it affects you.”
Mahomes, 29, has won six playoff games with fourth-quarter comebacks (and 19 in the regular-season). After the Chiefs rallied to beat the Buffalo Bills on Sunday for the AFC Championship, Smith texted Mahomes congratulations – on a thread that hasn’t stopped since their days as teammates.
“Patrick just has a fearlessness and he’s very unaffected by all of that, and, to be honest, he’s been unaffected by his stardom, which is the only chance you have at this kind of sustained success,” Smith said. “If (success) gets to you, it derails you.”
Smith spent time with Mahomes in training camp and again when the Chiefs came to the Bay Area for a 28-18 rout of the 49ers on Oct. 20.
“He is so dialed in and so unaffected by all the success,” Smith said. “It’s rare for people to be wired that way. That’s how the truly greats are.”
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As for a Super Bowl predication, Smith sees the Chiefs and Eagles as evenly matched squads, although he depicted the Eagles as “big bullies” who play old-school football. Two years ago, the Chiefs edged the Eagles 38-35 in the Super Bowl, and if it comes down to the wire again, Smith is confident in saying: “There’s nobody better than Andy (Reid) and Pat.”
