Paul Rudd on Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration: Alex Smith ‘was a huge part of this’
To be clear, actor Paul Rudd wouldn’t trade Patrick Mahomes for any player in the NFL.
But Rudd, the Shawnee Mission West graduate who is a co-founder of the annual Big Slick fundraiser for Children’s Mercy Hospital, couldn’t help but think of another quarterback Wednesday as he watched the Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade.
Washington’s Alex Smith.
When Andy Reid took over as Chiefs coach in 2013, one of the first things he did was swing a trade with the 49ers that brought Smith to Kansas City. In that first season, the Chiefs finished 11-5, winning nine more games than a year earlier
In Smith’s five seasons in Kansas City, the Chiefs won 53 games, made the playoffs four times and won three straight AFC West titles. In his final season with the Chiefs, Smith helped mentor Mahomes, who would one take Smith’s job in KC.
So before the start of the rally at Union Station on Wednesday, Rudd visited with the NFL Network and talked about the former Chief.
“Honestly, I kept thinking about Alex Smith,” Rudd said. “And Alex Smith, who I believe is the most underappreciated player in the NFL and has been for a decade. All he did was win. He did everything, he handled himself with grace. He was a huge part in this.”
Rudd was also asked about what it had been like to be a Chiefs fan before seeing the team win Super Bowl LIV on Sunday.
“It’s kind of soul-crushing disappointment every year in a new and unique way, and then you also just get the feeling no one else in the league is noticing because it’s small market, Chiefs, people aren’t really paying attention, but Chiefs fans know it,” Rudd said.
“This is the first time that I don’t have to say to my son, ‘Hey, you can really be proud of this team and wait till next year.’ We haven’t had to have that conversation. So this is is pure elation. It’s elation for this entire city. It’s magical.”
Here are the clips of Rudd on the network:
This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 9:24 AM.
