KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Alex Smith acknowledged the awkwardness of the situation recently when the Kansas City Chiefs drafted Patrick Mahomes II, the player they envision being his eventual replacement at starting quarterback.

So Smith tried to diffuse the situation by approaching it head-on. He reached out to Mahomes shortly after the Chiefs drafted him.

"Sometimes it can be awkward," Smith said. "You just kind of embrace that and be real. I think everybody just appreciates that, being honest. That's what I kind of emphasized to him, that any of that extracurricular stuff that maybe goes on elsewhere just doesn't take place here. It's kind of the environment we have.

"Sometimes it can be awkward," Alex Smith said of the Chiefs drafting a QB. "You just kind of embrace that and be real. I think everybody just appreciates that, being honest." Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images

"Really, just touching base. It was quick. It's a whirlwind. I can remember being there. There's a lot going on. You're meeting a thousand different people. I just wanted to introduce myself. That was really it. That's a special time, to get drafted. He had his family there. Really, for me, I just told him to enjoy it ... and told him we'd have plenty of time to get to know each other."

Mahomes indicated shortly after being drafted he appreciated hearing from Smith.

"Alex, you can just tell, is a great guy and I have heard great things about him," Mahomes said the day after he was drafted. "We had a great conversation.

"He just told me to come in and work as hard as I can. He told me that he is going to be there in my corner as well. He is going to try and teach me as I go. That is just the type of guy he is. He is just a great leader. He will be a great teammate and a great quarterback.”

Smith became familiar with Mahomes and his game before the draft. The Chiefs' coaching staff, as they do each year, showed combine video of each of the draftable QBs to the veteran quarterbacks, Smith included.

"The little bit you saw, he was a kid with a big arm," Smith said. "He could throw it. This certainly wasn't in-depth analysis we were doing. We were having fun with it more than anything."