Plenty of big names face challenges - ESPN

Quote:
10. Alex Smith, QB


Situation: Unrestricted free agent with a one-year deal on the table with San Francisco



Pros: Smith has grown up plenty during his six seasons with the 49ers, and he's the team's best option at quarterback once the lockout ends. Although he has been blamed for many of the team's failings during his tenure, he's still athletic and smart enough to be a productive NFL quarterback. His willingness to help second-round pick Colin Kaepernick -- the team's quarterback of the future -- learn the offense also earns Smith points for leadership.



Cons: Smith seemed to be turning the corner when former coach Mike Singletary named him the starter in 2009, but things fell apart last season. Smith's biggest problem is that he has never been consistent, and after six seasons he's run out of excuses for his shortcomings (including all the coaching changes he has endured). Some people suspected he would've been better off with a fresh start on a new team two years ago. It's starting to look as though those people were right.



Prediction: New 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh has offered plenty of praise for Smith since taking this job in January, but we all know where this is heading. Smith will run the team for one more season, then hand the reins over to Kaepernick.

- ESPN

Agree with everything said. Smith will never be a great QB, sure the situation we put him in was far from ideal, but he would have shown a lot more by now if he ever was gonna be an elite guy. We will keep him around for this season, I expect another ok season with a QB rating around 80ish and then its the Kaep show.

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:
Agree with everything said. Smith will never be a great QB, sure the situation we put him in was far from ideal, but he would have shown a lot more by now if he ever was gonna be an elite guy. We will keep him around for this season, I expect another ok season with a QB rating around 80ish and then its the Kaep show.

i dont like smith but i disagree im certain he will thrive under harbaugh.

Originally posted by white9D:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:
Agree with everything said. Smith will never be a great QB, sure the situation we put him in was far from ideal, but he would have shown a lot more by now if he ever was gonna be an elite guy. We will keep him around for this season, I expect another ok season with a QB rating around 80ish and then its the Kaep show.

i dont like smith but i disagree im certain he will thrive under harbaugh.

This, alex will be much improved, and will be back for year two.. giving Ck 2 years to nest.

Originally posted by white9D:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:
Agree with everything said. Smith will never be a great QB, sure the situation we put him in was far from ideal, but he would have shown a lot more by now if he ever was gonna be an elite guy. We will keep him around for this season, I expect another ok season with a QB rating around 80ish and then its the Kaep show.

i dont like smith but i disagree im certain he will thrive under harbaugh.

No way. I might give Alex an outside shot at doing well if we had a normal offseason where Alex would be picking Harbaugh's brain since day 1. Who knows when they will be allowed to communicate.

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:

Originally posted by white9D:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:
Agree with everything said. Smith will never be a great QB, sure the situation we put him in was far from ideal, but he would have shown a lot more by now if he ever was gonna be an elite guy. We will keep him around for this season, I expect another ok season with a QB rating around 80ish and then its the Kaep show.

i dont like smith but i disagree im certain he will thrive under harbaugh.

No way. I might give Alex an outside shot at doing well if we had a normal offseason where Alex would be picking Harbaugh's brain since day 1. Who knows when they will be allowed to communicate.

Who says they aren't communicating now? you really want me to believe out of 32 teams not one of the coaches, is coaching from a distance?

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:

Originally posted by white9D:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:
Agree with everything said. Smith will never be a great QB, sure the situation we put him in was far from ideal, but he would have shown a lot more by now if he ever was gonna be an elite guy. We will keep him around for this season, I expect another ok season with a QB rating around 80ish and then its the Kaep show.

i dont like smith but i disagree im certain he will thrive under harbaugh.

No way. I might give Alex an outside shot at doing well if we had a normal offseason where Alex would be picking Harbaugh's brain since day 1. Who knows when they will be allowed to communicate.

Who says they aren't communicating now? you really want me to believe out of 32 teams not one of the coaches, is coaching from a distance?

It's nothing close to what Alex would be getting if this was a normal offseason. Alex would be with Harbaugh for how many hours every day? I just don't see an end to the lockout any time soon. Each day that goes by is time lost for Alex and Kaep with Harbaugh.

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:

Originally posted by white9D:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:
Agree with everything said. Smith will never be a great QB, sure the situation we put him in was far from ideal, but he would have shown a lot more by now if he ever was gonna be an elite guy. We will keep him around for this season, I expect another ok season with a QB rating around 80ish and then its the Kaep show.

i dont like smith but i disagree im certain he will thrive under harbaugh.

No way. I might give Alex an outside shot at doing well if we had a normal offseason where Alex would be picking Harbaugh's brain since day 1. Who knows when they will be allowed to communicate.

Who says they aren't communicating now? you really want me to believe out of 32 teams not one of the coaches, is coaching from a distance?

It's nothing close to what Alex would be getting if this was a normal offseason. Alex would be with Harbaugh for how many hours every day? I just don't see an end to the lockout any time soon. Each day that goes by is time lost for Alex and Kaep with Harbaugh.

Yeah, i agree Alex definitely needs every min possible. I hope there is still an NFL season to watch this year.

Very impressed with his leadership and the level of respect he commands from his teammates, all things considered. Looking forward to seeing what he can do under Harbaugh this year.

Originally posted by okdkid:
Very impressed with his leadership and the level of respect he commands from his teammates, all things considered. Looking forward to seeing what he can do under Harbaugh this year.

It is no surprise that his team likes and respects him, I mean, who knows better than.they what he has been put through by this organization? They, unlike more than a few of the fans, see that the team has had issues worse than qb play in the past few years. Just look at how bad the offensive line has been since the Garcia/Hearst days. The biggest problem by far has been coaching, and everyone involved has suffered because of it. Hopefully having an offensive minded ex quarterback as head coach will help the team live up to the potential talent level of the players we have. I just hope there is football this year.

i just don't see Jim Harbaugh putting all his eggs in Alex Smith's basket like Nolan/Singletary did.

Yes Alex Smith is our "best option" right now. When the lockout ends I just don't see the 9ers sitting around and not making a move for another vet QB. We will end up with Palmer, McNabb, Hasselbeck, Bulger or someone to at least compete with Alex for the starting gig.

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:

Originally posted by white9D:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:
Agree with everything said. Smith will never be a great QB, sure the situation we put him in was far from ideal, but he would have shown a lot more by now if he ever was gonna be an elite guy. We will keep him around for this season, I expect another ok season with a QB rating around 80ish and then its the Kaep show.

i dont like smith but i disagree im certain he will thrive under harbaugh.

No way. I might give Alex an outside shot at doing well if we had a normal offseason where Alex would be picking Harbaugh's brain since day 1. Who knows when they will be allowed to communicate.

Who says they aren't communicating now? you really want me to believe out of 32 teams not one of the coaches, is coaching from a distance?

The ears have walls...if the NFL finds out that they are indeed talking football then the niners would be in deep poop, like the loss of a draft pick next year, so it would be stupid for JH to come in and be compare to Bellacheat.

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:

Originally posted by white9D:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:
Agree with everything said. Smith will never be a great QB, sure the situation we put him in was far from ideal, but he would have shown a lot more by now if he ever was gonna be an elite guy. We will keep him around for this season, I expect another ok season with a QB rating around 80ish and then its the Kaep show.

i dont like smith but i disagree im certain he will thrive under harbaugh.

No way. I might give Alex an outside shot at doing well if we had a normal offseason where Alex would be picking Harbaugh's brain since day 1. Who knows when they will be allowed to communicate.

Who says they aren't communicating now? you really want me to believe out of 32 teams not one of the coaches, is coaching from a distance?

It's nothing close to what Alex would be getting if this was a normal offseason. Alex would be with Harbaugh for how many hours every day? I just don't see an end to the lockout any time soon. Each day that goes by is time lost for Alex and Kaep with Harbaugh.

Yeah, i agree Alex definitely needs every min possible. I hope there is still an NFL season to watch this year.

I'm starting to not want a season this year, because I just have a hunch that the lockout will drag on all the way through summer and the 49ers will never stand a chance, then the fanbase will get frustrated and stupid things will happen.

if there is a season I hope the fans take it with a grain of salt when we look the same as last year.

[ Edited by skynet907 on Jun 9, 2011 at 11:31:39 ]

Originally posted by skynet907:

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:

Originally posted by white9D:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:
Agree with everything said. Smith will never be a great QB, sure the situation we put him in was far from ideal, but he would have shown a lot more by now if he ever was gonna be an elite guy. We will keep him around for this season, I expect another ok season with a QB rating around 80ish and then its the Kaep show.

i dont like smith but i disagree im certain he will thrive under harbaugh.

No way. I might give Alex an outside shot at doing well if we had a normal offseason where Alex would be picking Harbaugh's brain since day 1. Who knows when they will be allowed to communicate.

Who says they aren't communicating now? you really want me to believe out of 32 teams not one of the coaches, is coaching from a distance?

It's nothing close to what Alex would be getting if this was a normal offseason. Alex would be with Harbaugh for how many hours every day? I just don't see an end to the lockout any time soon. Each day that goes by is time lost for Alex and Kaep with Harbaugh.

Yeah, i agree Alex definitely needs every min possible. I hope there is still an NFL season to watch this year.

I'm starting to not want a season this year, because I just have a hunch that the lockout will drag on all the way through summer and the 49ers will never stand a chance, then the fanbase will get frustrated and stupid things will happen.

if there is a season I hope the fans take it with a grain of salt when we look the same as last year.

I don't think there is any way in H3ll that we will look the same as last year. Our defense will blitz, and hopefully not play Cover WHO prevent at the ends of games..

Our offense won't run the same running play on first, 2nd and 3rd down, and the sideline camera shots won't show a coach with the mic pointed up in the air, because he was never actually talking into it.

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by skynet907:

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:

Originally posted by unst4bl3:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:

Originally posted by white9D:

Originally posted by Kalen49ers:
Agree with everything said. Smith will never be a great QB, sure the situation we put him in was far from ideal, but he would have shown a lot more by now if he ever was gonna be an elite guy. We will keep him around for this season, I expect another ok season with a QB rating around 80ish and then its the Kaep show.

i dont like smith but i disagree im certain he will thrive under harbaugh.

No way. I might give Alex an outside shot at doing well if we had a normal offseason where Alex would be picking Harbaugh's brain since day 1. Who knows when they will be allowed to communicate.

Who says they aren't communicating now? you really want me to believe out of 32 teams not one of the coaches, is coaching from a distance?

It's nothing close to what Alex would be getting if this was a normal offseason. Alex would be with Harbaugh for how many hours every day? I just don't see an end to the lockout any time soon. Each day that goes by is time lost for Alex and Kaep with Harbaugh.

Yeah, i agree Alex definitely needs every min possible. I hope there is still an NFL season to watch this year.

I'm starting to not want a season this year, because I just have a hunch that the lockout will drag on all the way through summer and the 49ers will never stand a chance, then the fanbase will get frustrated and stupid things will happen.

if there is a season I hope the fans take it with a grain of salt when we look the same as last year.

I don't think there is any way in H3ll that we will look the same as last year. Our defense will blitz, and hopefully not play Cover WHO prevent at the ends of games..

Our offense won't run the same running play on first, 2nd and 3rd down, and the sideline camera shots won't show a coach with the mic pointed up in the air, because he was never actually talking into it.

[ Edited by skynet907 on Jun 9, 2011 at 11:38:40 ]