Former QB Alex Smith doesn’t like Broncos, but pays fans huge compliment

Count former NFL QB Alex Smith among the many critics who don’t believe in the Denver Broncos.

However, Broncos Country should take this one as a compliment.

Smith joined Kay Adams on “Up & Adams” earlier this week and Adams asked him why he hates the Broncos. He gave a pretty revealing answer, especially when it comes to the time he spent with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Alex Smith hates the Broncos 🤣 pic.twitter.com/wEfHO0HMoD

— Kay Adams (@heykayadams) January 13, 2026

“Listen, when you play for the Chiefs for five years, right? These are rivalries, like these old AFC rivalries that are so real and amazing,” Smith said.

He was Kansas City’s quarterback from 2013-2017, so Alex Smith lived through most of the Peyton Manning era in Denver, but in a Chiefs uniform. The Broncos won the division in 2013, 2014 and 2015. They’d go on to win the Super Bowl in Manning’s final season in the NFL.

“To this day, I lay down at night and I can still hear that crowd yelling incomplete over and over and over again when you go play there on the road,” Smith said. “I don’t have a lot of love for the Broncos.”

Alex Smith goes on to explain to Adams why he likes every remaining team in the AFC playoffs (the Bills, Texans and Patriots), but can’t bring himself to pick Denver. He says he has a lot of good relationships with folks in the franchise, but you can tell he still can’t stand the Broncos overall.

In the real world, hate isn’t healthy. In the sports world, it can be a good thing that makes rivalries fun.

Good on Alex Smith for letting everyone know how he truly feels, while also acknowledging those emotions are based on the fans. Broncos Country clearly made it very hard for Smith to play in Denver and he still remembers it all these years later.

Hopefully on a podcast a decade from now, Bills QB Josh Allen will be saying the same thing.

Denver and Buffalo square off in the divisional round in only three short days.

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