Redskins Free Agent Rumors: Jay Gruden Thinks Washington Is "Without A Doubt" Better With New QB Alex Smith

The NFL free agency frenzy started this offseason when the Kansas City Chiefs and Washington Redskins agreed to a trade involving quarterback Alex Smith. The Redskins and Smith agreed to a four-year extension that will keep him tied to Washington for the next five years. This effectively ended Kirk Cousins' tenure in Washington who is now the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings. Cousins spent six seasons in Washington and had spent the last two seasons playing under the team's franchise tag. Cousins has a regular season record of 26-30 as a starter and is 0-1 in the playoffs. Cousins led the Redskins to a 7-9 record in 2017 falling just short of making the playoffs.

Related: 4 Players The Redskins Should Target In The First Round Of The 2018 NFL Draft 

Redskins head coach Jay Gruden told reporters on Tuesday that he believes Washington has upgraded at the quarterback position.

"Yeah, without a doubt," Gruden said when he was asked if the Redskins are better off with Smith. "I don't want to compare two players, but we're always trying to be better at every position. We got better. Alex's experience is well-noted, and his record the last five years is what it is. You could argue that all day, but we feel very good."

Washington sent a third-round draft pick and cornerback Kendall Fuller to the Chiefs for Smith who has a 50-26 record as a starter.

"It's not one thing, it's everything. It's the entire body of work," Gruden said. "He's very good at the intermediate ball. He's good with the quick game. He can run zone reads, the [run-pass options]. Very exciting. The ability to ad-lib, make plays that aren't there and keep plays alive. Coaching him for the first time will be exciting because I don't think there's a limit on what he can do. He has all the things you want a quarterback to be able to do."

Smith was drafted first overall by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2005 NFL Draft. Smith had his best statistical season in 2017 passing for a career-high 26 touchdowns and throwing for 4,042 yards. Smith has a 7-7 record in the postseason with an impressive 14-2 touchdown to interception ratio.

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