Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith said at the beginning of training camp that he’d break off contract talks at a certain point to eliminate distractions.
But with camp over and the regular season a week away, Smith is no closer to deciding what that date is.
“No, I haven’t — I wish I had an answer for you,” Smith said, via Terez Paylor of the Kansas City Star. “I feel like I’ve kind of been locked into games and practicing. With camp winding down here, preseason winding down, certainly we’ll see. But sorry. No answer for you today.”
At this point, he said he didn’t think the negotiations were distracting him, or his teammates.
“I can’t speak on how those guys think,” Smith said. “I certainly know that for myself, . . . it’s the last thing I’m thinking about. I think that as a football player, when you’re in that locker room it’s: What is that guy putting in? What is he sacrificing? Is he accountable? How bad does he want it for the team?
“Those are the things I think about as a teammate and that I look for in my teammates, . . . no matter what, if a guy is on his last year or he’s in a dispute, he’s tagged, whatever those things might be.”
Smith’s entering the last year of his deal, and has the benefit of the Chiefs wanting to get linebacker Justin Houston locked up too.
There’s only one tag to use between the pair of them, so something will have to give if the Chiefs want to keep both. And if they want to keep Smith from worrying about it during the regular season, they have a week and a half.