Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Alex Smith and the 49ers in 2011

So all signs are pointing to Alex Smith returning to San Francisco for the upcoming 2011 season. Under any normal offseason I'd bet my money on there being no chance of seeing Alex Smith in a 49ers uniform again, however this has not been a normal offseason. Unless you have been living under a rock, you'll know the NFL is locked out, and thus, no free agency period has happened or will likely happen before preseason.

This has lead many teams, like the 49ers, who have gaping holes at the QB position to go to desperate measures, whether its drafting Jake Locker 8th overall (Titans) or Christian Ponder 11th overall (Vikings) or in this case, the 49ers bringing back Alex Smith. New 49ers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh and 49ers GM Trent Baalke recognized that they needed some kind of veteran solution to allow their rookie QB Colin Kaepernick time to develop. Which has lead to Harbaugh saying all the right things about Alex, and doing whatever he can to get the former 1st overall pick to come back to the 49ers for what I assume will be 1 more year.

As bad and as frustrating as Alex Smith has been his career, his last 2 seasons have been somewhat respectable, compiling a stat line of: 4720 yards, 32 TD's 22 INT's and a 60% completion rate.

                                     Alex Smith, QB of the San Francisco 49ers

 So while many 49er fans will cringe at the thought of watching more games with Alex Smith under center, understand that the 49ers could do a lot worse. I mean, who else could you get in a realistic scenario? Kaepernick is the teams future QB, so it doesn't make sense to trade a bunch of picks to pick up Kevin Kolb or Carson Palmer. Donovan McNabb you say? The guy who refused to wear an arm band with the play calls on it for offensive guru Mike Shanahan in Washington, the guy who had a notable lack of work ethic in the offseason and who honestly just looked downright awful, do you really wanna give up picks for that, when you can have Alex Smith? I don't.

So now we have established why the 49ers want Alex Smith back, but why does Alex Smith wanna come back to the 49ers? Despite being booed multiple times in Candlestick Park by 49er fans, reasons I came up with as to why Smith would wanna come back were as follows:
First of all, he knows he will be the starter here in 2011, thus giving him a chance to play and maybe driving up his market value for the 2012 offseason and earn a decent contract and maybe even get a starting gig somewhere else.
Secondly, he knows and is familiar with the personnel in San Francisco, guys like Frank Gore, Vernon Davis, Michael Crabtree etc.

Finally, I think Alex is much more of a competitor then people believe and I'm thinking he may feel like he has unfinished business in San Francisco. Had Alex Smith decided to not come back here next season, he leaves himself way too many question marks, such as, where will I be next season? When will I know where I will be? Will I go somewhere with a realistic chance to start? How will I cope with a whole new offensive personnel in a shortened offseason?

         The future in 49er land - HC Jim Harbaugh and QB Colin Kaepernick

While I think from a personal and professional standpoint that Alex Smith really needs to get out of San Francisco and the 49ers also needing to move on from Alex, the lockout has created an unusual circumstance, where oddly enough, the best situation for both the 49ers and Alex Smith is to come together for 1 more year.

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