When tight end Irv Smith Jr. arrived at Alabama in 2016, coach Nick Saban had guided the Crimson Tide to four national championships in the previous seven seasons.
Smith joins the Kansas City Chiefs with coach Andy Reid having led the NFL team to three Super Bowl victories in the past five seasons.
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Alabama played in the national-championship game in all three of Smith’s seasons with the Tide and won the crown in his second year.
Smith is hoping for similar results in Kansas City after signing as a free agent last week.
“It’s crucial,” Smith said of the two programs’ championship pedigree. “The standard is set. When I went to Alabama, I knew what that standard was, and coming to Chiefs Kingdom, I know what the standard is. I don’t take it lightly, and when it came down to the decision-making process, I wanted this opportunity. It’s something I wasn’t shying away from. I’m attacking it.”
The Chiefs’ championship standard drew Smith even though he won’t be Kansas City’s No. 1 tight end.
Kansas City has two tight ends under contract for 2024 – four-time All-Pro Travis Kelce, who had 93 receptions for 984 yards and five touchdowns in the 2023 regular season plus another 32 receptions, 355 receiving yards and three touchdowns in the playoffs, and Noah Gray, who had 28 receptions for 305 yards and two touchdowns in 2023.
“With Kansas City, the history that they have using the tight ends,” Smith said, “running a lot of 12 personnel, 13 personnel, using multiple tight-end sets and being able to get behind a guy like Travis Kelce and learn from him and pick his brain with anything. And just win football games. That’s my favorite thing to do is be a part of winning teams and help teams win, and whatever I got to do to help this team win games and succeed, I’m going to do my part.”
Smith started his NFL career working in tandem with a Pro Bowl tight end.
Smith joined Minnesota in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft and caught 66 passes for 676 yards and seven touchdowns in his first two seasons while playing with Kyle Rudolph.
“With the success that Kansas City has had, obviously, with (quarterback Patrick) Mahomes and being a part with Travis Kelce and coach Reid and just the culture that they’ve built here – it’s a winning culture,” Smith said, “and it’s something that I’ve been around winners my whole life, and I just feel like for me it was the best opportunity, the best fit and somewhere I can succeed and showcase my ability. …
“I see myself bringing some youth to the room, some juice. I see myself being an impact in the run game, in the pass game, any way I can help the team. But for me, I feel like I’m a versatile player and I can make a lot of plays on both sides of the field. And with Travis and Noah Gray, using 12 personnel, 13 personnel, figuring out each other, how we mesh well with each other. At the end of the day, we’re going to be getting each other open and feeding off of each other. I’m an unselfish guy, and I’ve been a part of a lot of heavy 12 personnel teams, or 13, and I feel like that’s what I strive best in.”
Smith trusts Reid’s innovative offense to get the best out of him.
“It’s definitely exciting,” Smith said. “Watching the Chiefs, the games, they’re electric. The type of playmakers that are on the field, the type of plays that coach Andy Reid is calling, he’s getting his playmakers involved. Whatever the team can do to win games, you know they’re going to do it. Those trick plays, those are always fun because it keeps the defense on their toes and they don’t know what to expect type of thing. And also, it gets to highlight some players in certain things that they usually wouldn’t be getting to do.”
In 2021, a torn meniscus caused Smith to miss Minnesota’s entire season.
In 2022, Smith sustained an ankle injury in a 34-26 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 30 and missed the next nine games. Smith returned for the regular-season finale, then played in the Vikings’ 31-24 loss to the New York Giants in the first round of the postseason in his last game for Minnesota.
Last offseason, Smith joined the Cincinnati Bengals in free agency, but in 12 games, he had 18 receptions for 115 yards and one touchdown. After catching 36 passes as a rookie in 2019, Smith’s reception total has declined in every season of his career.
In 2023, Smith missed Cincinnati’s third and fourth games because of a hamstring injury. Smith started the first five games he played for the Bengals. But he started only once after that, and by the end of the year, his role was such that Cincinnati designated him as a game-day inactive for the final three contests.
Smith comes to the Chiefs feeling good.
“This has really been the first offseason for me in the past two years where I’ve been fully healthy,” Smith said, “so this offseason, it’s been super crucial in terms of being able to focus on what I need to focus on and getting better and just going through an offseason with that mindset of just working on my body, working on everything to be 100 percent when the team needs me. That’s my main goal is just to be 100 percent as much as I can and be available.”
