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Theismann: Redskins can ‘absolutely’ win now with Alex Smith at quarterback

Posted at 11:07 PM, Jan 31, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-31 23:07:59-05

Quarterback Alex Smith of the Kansas City Chiefs. ( Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images )

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - Joe Theismann, the all-time leading passer in Redskins franchise history, is passing along his thoughts on the Redskins agreeing in principle to trade for Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith.

When asked by News 3 Sports Director Adam Winkler if Washington can win in 2018 with Smith at the helm, Theismann was sure of it.

"Absolutely," Theismann said. "I think this team could've won with Kirk Cousins. But you just can't play with 21 guys on I-R (Injured Reserve). You need to have football players if you'e going to compete in the national football league. We should be getting a lot of them back. Alex, I think, is excited. We've been friends for a long time."

Joe Theismann talks to News 3

Smith, who turns 34 in May, set a career-high with 4,042 passing yards in 2017. Cousins has thrown more more than that total in each of his past three seasons as Redskins starting QB. Winkler asked Theismann his take on the opinion the Redskins traded for an older, cheaper version of Cousins.

"I think Kirk and Alex are two very similar type of quarterbacks, they play the game in a similar fashion - which is good from a transition standpoint," Theismann explained. "Kirk has played a lot of good football. If we got another Kirk with a little different touch to it, a little bit of a different move - without all the rhetoric we've had to deal with. The speculation of whether or not Kirk was going to be here became just a general pain in the neck for people who are Redskins fans."

Cousins, who became the first quarterback in NFL history to play back-to-back seasons on a one-year contract of the franchise tag, will now hit the open market as an unrestricted free agent in March.