Chiefs set to obtain Smith from 49ers

Two decades after NFL legend Joe Montana left the San Francisco 49ers for Kansas City, another star quarterback -- Alex Smith -- is set to leave the 49ers and join the Chiefs, according to reports. The NFL Network, ESPN and Fox Sports all reported Wednesday that the 49ers have agreed to send Smith to the Chiefs in exchange for a second-round pick in this year's NFL Draft and a 2014 selection. No trades can become official until the league reopens transactions on March 12 but the deal makes sense for the Chiefs, who are in need of a quarterback, and for the 49ers, who finished last season with two signal callers. The 49ers, who saw four-time Super Bowl champion Montana depart after 14 seasons to play his final two NFL campaigns with the Chiefs before retiring at age 38, found Smith expendable after the rise of Colin Kaepernick. Smith led the 49ers into the playoffs in the 2011 season and had the team in top form last year until a concussion sidelined him. Kaepernick moved into the starting job and kept it even after Smith was healthy, leading the 49ers into their first Super Bowl since 1994, although San Francisco lost 34-31 to the Baltimore Ravens. Smith, who is due $7.5 million next season in the last year of his contract, would figure to replace Matt Cassel, the Chiefs quarterback who is expected to be cut after the deal is completed. Cassel, obtained from New England in a 2009 deal, is not expected to figure into the plans of new Chiefs coach Andy Reid and new team general manager John Dorsey. Reid employed run-pass threat Michael Vick at quarterback over the past few seasons coaching at Philadelphia before being dumped by the Eagles. He has another run-pass threat in Kaepernick, who set an NFL one-game record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 181 in his first career playoff game, a victory over Green Bay. Kaepernick broke Vick's mark from 2002 by eight yards. From AFP