Some of the press I've read and seen on the Smokefire is that they were trying not to need a drip pan (which I see now the Rec Tec does have), and supposedly that was based on customer requests, although I don't know enough about pellet smokers to know why that would be a request.
it also appears from the "catching fire" video that even without a drip pan, having the ash and grease collect in a single drawer isn't a good idea. If they just made it with one large drawer across the whole length they could have two drip trays, each at about 1/3 of the width of the grill, and the ash tray in the center.
Real shame that Weber, a brand I typically trust pretty strongly, have such a mis-fire on this one. There doesn't appear to be an easy fix, so I'd imagine they'll be recalling them and having to develop a "gen ii".