Alex Smith on the Arizona Cardinals? Bruce Arians said they tried to make it happen

The Arizona Cardinals face the Kansas City Chiefs and their starting quarterback, Alex Smith, this weekend at University of Phoenix. Though Smith plays in the AFC, the Cardinals and their fans should be very familiar with Smith, as he played many seasons for the San Francisco 49ers.

According to Arizona head coach Bruce Arians, if he had had his way, Cardinals fans might have been even more familiar with Smith than they already are.

As a guest on SiriusXM NFL Radio's "Late Hits" with Alex Marvez, as he is every Tuesday, Arians said he has "always been a fan of'" Smith he "would have loved to have had him" as his starting quarterback and that the Cardinals actually tried to acquire him.

"We actually tried (to trade for him)," Arians said. "They said no quickly quickly."

The Niners traded Smith to the Chiefs before the 2013 season.

Arians said he fell in love one season when his team played against Smith in San Francisco and he saw him warm up.

"He's got a cannon of an arm, he's athletic as heck," Arians said about Smith. "There can't be anything wrong with this kid. I knew he was really smart coming out and it's just a matter of reps and staying within one system, which he never got to do."

It's a very interesting proposition. But the one thing that raises questions is how Arians likes to push the ball down the field. Smith's biggest knock is how he doesn't throw the ball down the field and that he just doesn't have the arm to do it.

He does have a strong enough arm, but it seems he never throws anything more than 5-10 yards from the line of scrimmage.

Would Smith have been a good fit for Arians here? Do you buy that he was one of the Cardinals' first QB targets, even before Carson Palmer?