Alex Smith to be traded to Chiefs, ESPN reports

According to ESPN's John Clayton, the San Francisco 49ers have agreed to trade quarterback Alex Smith to the Kansas City Chiefs.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter the Chiefs will trade a second-round pick this year — the top pick in second round — as well as another conditional mid-round pick in 2014. The trade can not be officially complete until March 12, when the league year begins.

According to Schefter, The Chiefs are now expected to release former starting quarterback Matt Cassel. Cassel who has two years remaining on a $63 million, six-year deal he signed with Kansas City after he was traded from New England in 2009.

According to ESPN, Smith will play under terms of his remaining contract, which calls for a guaranteed base salary of $8.5 million in 2013. There has been no discussions between the Chiefs and Smith's representatives about negotiating a new contract.

Smith, who suffered a concussion and was relegated to back up after the emergence of Colin Kaepernick, was reportedly seeking to be released from the team in order to test free agency. Due to the lack of depth at quarterback in this year's NFL draft, the 49ers opted to try and trade Smith after receiving interest from the Chiefs and reportedly the Arizona Cardinals as well.

The Chiefs, which hold the first overall pick in the draft, have openly said that they did not plan on using that pick on a quarterback.

“There is no quarterback where personnel guys can definitely say, ‘He’s a first-round pick,’” new Chiefs general manager John Dorsey recently told The Kansas City Star. “There were so many inconsistencies in the collective group. There was not one guy that stood up and said, ‘I’m the guy in the position this year.’ There really wasn’t one clear-cut guy."

Before being injured, Smith posted a 104.1 passer rating and completed 70.2 percent of his passes.

Ryan Carreon is a web editor for DeseretNews.com. E-mail him at rcarreon@desnews.com