Originally posted by oldman9er:
Tell me something then. If your theory were accurate, what on Earth would possess Alex to state that he was happy with the offer? Wouldn't that alone kill any leverage he could have possibly wanted to have? Wouldn't that be like telling the world that he is dishonest and actually trying to make himself later look like the greedy and entitled jerk?
What I am saying is.. if Alex was really unhappy with the offer, he would (if stating anything) state that SF is low-balling him and make THEM out to be "the bad guys" in that situation.
Doesn't that make sense? It's just far more reasonable to believe that the offer was made... Alex accepted it vocally... and before he had a chance to sign it? Baalke put some brakes on it for whatever reason. Better fits the timeline when late in the game, Alex took his trip to Miami. He was irritated at his agent and Baalke for halting the signing process (for whatever that reason).
I'm not sure if I get what you're saying. It's not a theory, but a fact that Alex had a contract offer sitting on the table a good two months before free agency hit. For whatever reason, he didn't sign it. Draw your own conclusions. IMO, that signals that he thought he was worth more than what was being offered, and put off signing it to drive up the price. Fast forward a few weeks, free agency hits and the 9ers show interest in Manning.
It is not known whether or not we offered Manning a contract (though I'm sure numbers and parameters were discussed). Smith, still hoping to get more money and probably pissed that we courted another QB, starts exploring other options. Shortly after Seattle signs Matt Flynn, leaving Miami as the only team that was interested in Smith besides SF.
Not surprisingly, the next week he resigns with the 49ers for basically the same amount of money that was offered to him previously (3 years, $24 million). Don't know about you, but that tells me that Smith/Condon thought they could squeeze more cash out of the FO, it blew up in their faces, and they have no one to blame but themselves.
[ Edited by baltien on May 31, 2012 at 9:07 AM ]