If Kaepernick is going to be the long-term answer at QB anyway, why keep Smith?

Originally posted by Irish40Niner:
Wayne Brady I'll take door #4 please. My reasons for this are: we can pick up a cheaper vet than Alex who is just as capable of managing the team if Kaep is not ready, more cap room to fill other areas of need, I think Kaep will be ready, his athletic abilities can help carry him while he is still learning(cam newton, Michael Vick, randall Cunningham)he has a better team around him than all the rookie qbs that were thrown into the fire and had decent to successful first seasons.

I am so tempted to support this option...

Originally posted by lamontb:
Exactly. And if I'm Smith I'm bringing in tape of Kolb and Fitzpatrick and throwing it on. Then I want Baalke to explain to me how I can't get a contract better than these dudes. Fair or not those 2 guys contracts have reset the market value. Hypothetically speaking let's say in practice and in the film room CK struggled to the point where Smith and the coaching staff realize he won't be ready to start this year. That would give Smith even more leverage. Just so many things behind the scenes that could be going on that's making this tougher than expected. And still the question remains that if the team truly believes in Smith then why would they have a problem matching either of those guys contracts?

My suspicion is that Harbaalke thinks Kaep could be ready to go in training camp, so they're low-balling Smith. After the Saints game, even after the Giants game, I thought Smith had a 5 year, $55m contract coming his way. They're offering chump change

Originally posted by sfout:
This is why I still think there is an outside shot that he walks. If we are only offering him a 3 year $24M deal(with what? Maybe 8M guaranteed?) I wouldn't be surprised if any of the supposed 12 teams that contacted Manning's agent Tom Condon, who coincidently represents Alex as well and says hey we'll do a 5 year $50M deal. Favorites to do so IMHO are Seattle, Jacksonville, and Kansas - they all have very unsettled QB situations and amazing running games and fairly good defenses at least when everyone is healthy.

Manning is reportedly going to pick a team before the week is out, meaning he'll be on a team before free agency actually starts, the 11 teams that lose the Peyton Bidding War will immediately look for plan B and IMHO after Matt Flynn, Alex Smith is the best QB who could be on the market, personally I think Alex is a better bet then Flynn, 2 games in 4 years while learning the offense and gelling with the WRs could greatly inflate his perceived ability I believe his 2 games showed skill but were more a product of the system, just like a bunch of people joked that Rodgers is a system QB because a backup could play so well.

Flynn will get over paid, he will get a Kolb/Cassel contract and that will only increase Alex's and Condon's desire to get him paid in a similar manner. Teams will come calling, our fan base is jaded to Alex's abilities because of the past 6 years but dont be surprised if/when he gets paid at least $40million on a long term deal, whether it is by us or a Manning/Flynn loser who wants a quality QB.

This all tells me Alex isn't going to sign for a while

Originally posted by sfout:
This is why I still think there is an outside shot that he walks. If we are only offering him a 3 year $24M deal(with what? Maybe 8M guaranteed?) I wouldn't be surprised if any of the supposed 12 teams that contacted Manning's agent Tom Condon, who coincidently represents Alex as well and says hey we'll do a 5 year $50M deal. Favorites to do so IMHO are Seattle, Jacksonville, and Kansas - they all have very unsettled QB situations and amazing running games and fairly good defenses at least when everyone is healthy.

Manning is reportedly going to pick a team before the week is out, meaning he'll be on a team before free agency actually starts, the 11 teams that lose the Peyton Bidding War will immediately look for plan B and IMHO after Matt Flynn, Alex Smith is the best QB who could be on the market, personally I think Alex is a better bet then Flynn, 2 games in 4 years while learning the offense and gelling with the WRs could greatly inflate his perceived ability I believe his 2 games showed skill but were more a product of the system, just like a bunch of people joked that Rodgers is a system QB because a backup could play so well.

Flynn will get over paid, he will get a Kolb/Cassel contract and that will only increase Alex's and Condon's desire to get him paid in a similar manner. Teams will come calling, our fan base is jaded to Alex's abilities because of the past 6 years but dont be surprised if/when he gets paid at least $40million on a long term deal, whether it is by us or a Manning/Flynn loser who wants a quality QB.

This all tells me Alex isn't going to sign for a while

Originally posted by lamontb:
Good points. After Peyton Smith is the best free agent qb on the market. Just seems like Flynn has the hot name so somebody will overpay for him. It sounds good that we all think no other team is interested in Smith but in reality that's probably not true.

And let's be real Smith and Condon have accommodated the Niners salary wise as Smith's previous play wasn't up to par. He took a pay cut to his original deal and took a pretty cheap deal to stay with the team for this year. So why wouldn't they both expect a much better deal based on this year's performance? they keep saying they want me here and that they aren't interested in Peyton. Well if that's the case lock him up long term with a fair market value contract. Most seem to think he's not worth more than 8 million a year. I really don't think so either, but if that what the market dictates then you gotta pay to play. But it will interesting to see what the team is really offering b/c that really tells you a lot.

So I'm wondering if the front office believes that Smith would rather choose to come back to SF for 8 million a year vs taking 10 million from another team.

Then again we all could be wrong about these figures.

It tells me that Harbaalke is perfectly comfortable with Kaep starting in '12. They'll save $10m a year in cap space and be financially set up to keep this defense together for a decade. But if Smith takes the low-ball deal, they're perfectly fine with him starting in '12 and trying to improve on '11.

I feel perfectly comfortable with Alex walking if he doesn't like the deal we are offering him. I feel confident in our other QBs and excited to see them get out there and give us a fresh new era.

Looks like it's more about years than money

With five days to go before the start of free agency, the 49ers and quarterback Alex Smith still haven't come to terms on a new contract leaving some to wonder about what is holding things up.

According to a report from Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee, the length of the contract is a big snag. The 49ers have an offer on the table for Smith that's reportedly for three years while Smith and agent Tom Condon are looking for a five-year pact. There's also a difference in terms of the amount of guaranteed money, although that's probably not totally exclusive from the length of the deal.
The fact that both sides want to make a long-term commitment to one another will probably wind up building a bridge over the gap between them before the start of free agency. That doesn't mean it will absolutely happen, of course, but the 49ers have always seemed comfortable sticking with Smith and there's no question that Smith is comfortable playing in the offense that Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman built around him last season.

Should Smith wind up shopping himself to other teams, Barrows points out that Scot McCloughan, the general manager who originally drafted Smith in San Francisco, is now working for the Seahawks. Seattle's in the market for a quarterback and it's not out of the realm of possibility that they might find a way to let Condon know that if Peyton Manning, who is also repped by Condon, doesn't want to play for them that they'd be interested in making a play for Smith.

There's still plenty of time for things to play out, but now we have some idea of what's keeping Smith and the 49ers from reaffirming to one another.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/08/length-of-deal-holding-up-alex-smith-contract/

Well, if Alex goes to another team, He will get to have a New OC yet again...! And that just might be a record.

Originally posted by sfout:
I haven't said anything about Kaepernick, I have only said that I have faith in the coaching staff but that I personally have an opinion that just cause we drafted a QB doesn't make him our QB of the future. dude your being irrational and only seeing what you want to see, its pointless to attempt to convince you otherwise. have a nice day.

It really seems you play antoganist to CK, but if I guess I'm wrong. I take your word for it man

Originally posted by lamontb:
Looks like it's more about years than money

With five days to go before the start of free agency, the 49ers and quarterback Alex Smith still haven't come to terms on a new contract leaving some to wonder about what is holding things up.

According to a report from Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee, the length of the contract is a big snag. The 49ers have an offer on the table for Smith that's reportedly for three years while Smith and agent Tom Condon are looking for a five-year pact. There's also a difference in terms of the amount of guaranteed money, although that's probably not totally exclusive from the length of the deal.
The fact that both sides want to make a long-term commitment to one another will probably wind up building a bridge over the gap between them before the start of free agency. That doesn't mean it will absolutely happen, of course, but the 49ers have always seemed comfortable sticking with Smith and there's no question that Smith is comfortable playing in the offense that Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman built around him last season.

Should Smith wind up shopping himself to other teams, Barrows points out that Scot McCloughan, the general manager who originally drafted Smith in San Francisco, is now working for the Seahawks. Seattle's in the market for a quarterback and it's not out of the realm of possibility that they might find a way to let Condon know that if Peyton Manning, who is also repped by Condon, doesn't want to play for them that they'd be interested in making a play for Smith.

There's still plenty of time for things to play out, but now we have some idea of what's keeping Smith and the 49ers from reaffirming to one another.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/08/length-of-deal-holding-up-alex-smith-contract/

One side wants 3 years the other side wants 5 years, Only if there was a number between 3 and 5 that they could agree on

Originally posted by highway49:
Well, if Alex goes to another team, He will get to have a New OC yet again...! And that just might be a record.

Darrell Bevell is a up and coming OC, and was Favre's personal QB coach for years. Carl Smith is QB Coach.

Strong staff

Originally posted by sfout:
Darren Thomas if he goes undrafted - lol a less physically gifted Josh Johnson. Thats who gets my vote for training camp competition for Tolzien.

Finally! Its about damn time we agree on something. I like your thinking on the Darron Thomas if he goes undrafted. Or if by a shock in FA we snag Josh Johnson, who knows?

I am highly skeptical CK is the long-term answer for the team.

Originally posted by highway49:
Well, if Alex goes to another team, He will get to have a New OC yet again...! And that just might be a record.

Redskins would be a the ideal option for Alex if he somehow (I'm talking 1-in-a-1,000,000) walks; Alex would be going from Harbaugh's WCO to Shannahan's WCO (which both are very similar in run-heavy/TE utilization), this would also allow the Skins to draft a QB without trading up, somebody like Ryan Tannehill, or Kirk Cousins.

Originally posted by valrod33:

One side wants 3 years the other side wants 5 years, Only if there was a number between 3 and 5 that they could agree on

It's quite clear they aren't convinced Alex is the long-term solution, which is why they don't want to give out the 5-year deal (or anything longer than 3 years). It wouldn't surprise me if the contract allowed them to dump him after the 2nd year with no cap penalty.

Alex did well for us last season, but he isn't the QB people want to make him out to be.

Originally posted by SnakePlissken:
Redskins would be a the ideal option for Alex if he somehow (I'm talking 1-in-a-1,000,000) walks; Alex would be going from Harbaugh's WCO to Shannahan's WCO (which both are very similar in run-heavy/TE utilization), this would also allow the Skins to draft a QB without trading up, somebody like Ryan Tannehill, or Kirk Cousins.

Makes sense, but I don't think him and the misses want to leave the West Coast, young kid(s) and all.