a Thought on Alex Smith and the Bust title

Originally posted by fly15:

Originally posted by kidash:

Originally posted by D-NOTTE:

Originally posted by D_Niner:
I don't think most on here would call him a bust. I think most are disappointed with his performance to date. I mean, we didn't draft this guy 1st overall to be average...

Is he even average?

He ain't no Jamarcus Russell!

- 98

but pretty close...

how so?

Originally posted by fly15:

Originally posted by kidash:

Originally posted by D-NOTTE:

Originally posted by D_Niner:
I don't think most on here would call him a bust. I think most are disappointed with his performance to date. I mean, we didn't draft this guy 1st overall to be average...

Is he even average?

He ain't no Jamarcus Russell!

- 98

but pretty close...

Yes, I will grant you the title "JaMarcus of the Webzone"

Originally posted by sdninerfan:

Originally posted by archcity49er:
My thoughts..... you take somebody number 1 you want an impact player and a player for the next decade in the pro bowl. If he does not succeed this year and is gone I think it is ok to say bust..... with this caveat, it maybe wasn't the strongest draft (quarterback wise....don't say Rogers as nobody was thinking him as a one) and ill be damned if I don't feel he tried to be worthy of number 1 he is no leaf or Russell or any of those much more "superstar" number ones (I know two for leaf). I can say the organization made a mistake but at least it wasn't a complete douchbag failure. maybe he just should have been drafted later if that's what turns out.

So yes you would call him a bust but I'm not sure he could get anywhere near the people in the top 25 in that category...

In a normal draft he would not have gone first overall. Bad year for the 49ers to have the #1.

But be thankful Matt Leinart did elect to be eligible for the draft that year!

Originally posted by whiskywarlord:

Originally posted by oldman9er:

Originally posted by Joecool:
I still don't understand the key reason for drafting him over Rogers: athleticism.

Rogers has shown much more athletic ability than Smith in terms of mobility and arm strength.

Everyone knew Rogers was more NFL ready but the athleticism Smith supposedly had over Aaron was the difference maker.

Boy was that an incorrect evaluation.

I was under the impression that the slight favor to Alex was that Nolan and McC felt he had the better... disposition of the two?

i think the word they used was, "coachable" if im not mistaken

Ah, yes... I believe this is right.

Originally posted by eastie:

Originally posted by blizzuntz:

Originally posted by D_Niner:
I don't think most on here would call him a bust. I think most are disappointed with his performance to date. I mean, we didn't draft this guy 1st overall to be average...

I agree with this. I think the timing was bad. The 49ers were the worst I have ever seen and we all wanted to see a hero carry this team and Alex didn't/couldn't do it.

I really believe very few QB's could have stepped in like Alex and win (or even play average) from the get go.

i hate the comparison to Rodgers debate. Rodgers sat on the bench which helped him a lot. Its proven to work bc look at Vince Young now as an example

It seems everybody passes over the fact that Alex was the youngest player drafted that year. It really is to much to ask a kid to come into the NFL and play the most important position on offense without ANY time on the sidelines to learn the craft.

Even worse, Smith had to learn a completely different offensive system than what he was familiar with in college. It was sort of a like Boeing hired a college grad who was a wizard in designing fast boats, and immediately assigned him to lead a project to design a commercial jet. Rodgers would have been a better fit, even though I believe he'd have a miserable rookie season too if he was thrown into the game that early.

Originally posted by Memphis9er:

Originally posted by fly15:

Originally posted by kidash:

Originally posted by D-NOTTE:

Originally posted by D_Niner:
I don't think most on here would call him a bust. I think most are disappointed with his performance to date. I mean, we didn't draft this guy 1st overall to be average...

Is he even average?

He ain't no Jamarcus Russell!

- 98

but pretty close...

Yes, I will grant you the title "JaMarcus of the Webzone"

and yes, I will grant you the title "memphis the bust"

Like everybody else here on the zone, I have an A$$hole thus I have an opinion.

If Alex (not the defense), leads the 49ers to several divisional titles and at least some champion ship games, then he won't be a bust.

However, if the niners make the playoffs in spite of him and especially if he is not resigned, then he is a bust. Not as big as Ryan Leaf and some others mind you because he hasn't had the talent to help.

The reason for the bust is not just the wins, it is whether good or bad, that he was the #1 overall, not just a first rounder. Point is also that let us be honest, he was never truly worth the #1 overall pick. In an average draft, he wouldn't have been. It was such a bad year to have the number one pick, no one wanted it. In fact no one wanted to climb up anywhere into the top 5. In this years draft, he wouldn't have been taken #1 overall, truth be told at best late #1, but more like 2nd rounder.

Originally posted by fly15:

Originally posted by Memphis9er:

Originally posted by fly15:

Originally posted by kidash:

Originally posted by D-NOTTE:

Originally posted by D_Niner:
I don't think most on here would call him a bust. I think most are disappointed with his performance to date. I mean, we didn't draft this guy 1st overall to be average...

Is he even average?

He ain't no Jamarcus Russell!

- 98

but pretty close...

Yes, I will grant you the title "JaMarcus of the Webzone"

and yes, I will grant you the title "memphis the bust"

and I will grant you the title "fly15 vann." Good enough to get a call to the webzone, but not quite ready for primetime and therefore cut before the first preseason game.

Thanks for playing. Johnny, tell him his consolation prize.

Originally posted by fly15:

Originally posted by Memphis9er:

Originally posted by fly15:

Originally posted by kidash:

Originally posted by D-NOTTE:

Originally posted by D_Niner:
I don't think most on here would call him a bust. I think most are disappointed with his performance to date. I mean, we didn't draft this guy 1st overall to be average...

Is he even average?

He ain't no Jamarcus Russell!

- 98

but pretty close...

Yes, I will grant you the title "JaMarcus of the Webzone"

and yes, I will grant you the title "memphis the bust"

Ba Bing

Originally posted by 9erred:
When someone is drafted #1 as a qb, they are drafted to be a leader, come in and take control and also to win.

Alex Smith has never averaged over 200 yards a game passing in his career, that just aint going to cut it in todays NFL.

For whatever reason, I think he is a nice guy, but at this point I would take the young athletic Nate Davis over Smith.

Just my opinion, but hey, the team has not been above 500 since 2002, so somethings gotta give.

Actually his avg last year per game was like 213 or 216 yds per game...Check out his stats had he played a full season I had the stats up in my original post he'd have over 3K yds and 25 TDs

It's safe to say that Alex Smith has had a unique career path compared to many other first round quarterbacks. The offensive coordinators, head coaches (both of defensive backgrounds that stem from the Ravens), the roster turnover, etc.

It's safe to say that SF wan not an ideal situation for any QB given those characteristics.

At the same time, a career backup/scrub by the name of Shaun Hill was able to succeed, win teammates over, and play the position to post a .500+ winning record under multiple OCs. One of the main reasons McCloughan traded Hill away was to gather support for Alex Smith in 2010.

The quarterback position is basically the leader of the team - the majority of good QBs in the league have that leader/control mentality: E. Manning, P. Manning, Rogers, Brady, Rivers, etc.

Alex Smith, early in his career, never displayed those leadership qualities. I respect him for not faking it when he's not comfortable, but it's hard to gain support for your cause if you don't have the mentality.

Is he a bust? 50% yes, 50% in question. Could he change that in one season? Damn right!

Originally posted by Hollywood:
Alright, i'm going to bite. Unfortunately I fear that half way through, my frustration with the Alex Smith train is going to come flying out of the closet, getting it all over the furniture and carpet.
Is Alex a bust? As soon as he's no longer a starting QB, and I believe that is going to be at the end of this season. I'm sorry, I don't buy the OC excuse. People love to defend Alex with the rotating OC theory. Problem is, Drew Brees had that problem...yet he was still good and you could see it early. 17 TD's/16int's his first season as a starter. I'm sure there are others. It didn't take 5,6,7 seasons. Alex's numbers were atrocious the first season, and granted the team was very bad. But even if the team was good, watching him play that season, he didn't show anything that makes me think he would have been that much better with a better supporting cast. His 2nd season numbers should have been a bit better than they were. Look at guys like Matt Ryan, Rivers, Romo, Sanchez, etc. The number of QB's who started as rookies and did ok is not really long, but plenty with better first year numbers not only substantially better than Alex's, but their rookie season numbers are better than his 2nd season, and in some cases, both seasons combined. Granted, there are not a plethora of guys that come in and are solid their rookie season right off the bad, but if you notice, these are your top 15+ QB's in the league. These are the guys that people want running their team. The rest are stuck with mediocre or bad while searching for that good QB. Alex to me, is a career backup being asked to be a starter. He's a nice guy. There's nothing to dislike about the guy, really. I like to believe We all want him to succeed. I just don't see it happening. The guy shows flashes where he looks like he could be a serviceable QB. Sure, he puts together a great quarter here and there, then it's 3 quarters of bad. Ok, Rodgers got to sit back and learn. Well, when Alex was hurt, was he unable to watch and learn? When he was the backup, was he unable to watch and learn? When Rodgers did come in, he looked like a natural. (I'll be the first to admit, I never saw that coming. I thought Rodgers and Smith were both equally bad picks in that draft) The list of excuses for this guy is long and just keeps getting longer. It's either the OC's fault, or the Head Coaches fault, the ref's fault, the fact that he hasn't gotten to sit on the bench and learn for a decade fault, the offensive lines fault, the WR's fault, the bad sushi, his cleats, El Nino, George W Bush, Obama's, the coriolis effect, and on and on and on.


With all that said, I do not wish for his failure like some Alex Haters. I'll gladly eat crow if he somehow finds "it". I've been a Niner fan since 1983. I live in the hell hole known as Dallas, TX. Home of the fairweather fan. It's hard living here as a Niner fan, it's even harder when the team isn't that great. So Alex's failure only makes sitting in a bar here watching a game in my jersey that much harder. So I want Alex to succeed. I want this team in the playoffs. I didn't drive 1200 miles to Phoenix in 2009 for the road opener to cheer against Smith. I did it due to my love of this team. So i'll be in KC in September rooting for them against the Chiefs, and in San Francisco in November when we host the Lambs regardless of who's running the ship. Assuming Alex is at the helm, i'll be cheering him on. Unfortunately I think we are trying to squeeze blood from a turnip. That turnip being one Alex Smith.




p.s., someone mentioned Vince Youngs name and I never miss a chance to take a shot at this over rated wanna be QB. I predicted Vince Young would suck from day 1. And he has. The defense and running game has carried that team since he got there. Yet, people want him to succeed so bad, they defend the guy endlessly, giving him credit in games where he did more harm than good. I hate hearing or reading about how Vince Young leads the Titans to victory only to see that he threw 0 TD"s, 125 yards passing, 2 INT's. Give me a break. The guys numbers have never been that good and outside his college career, i've seen nothing impressive about the guy.

OK So we're neighbors since I live in Ft Worth Texas...But you look at the talent that P Rivers had around him...He had the BEST RB in the NFL taking alot of pressure off of him Not to mention one of the best TEs as well. As much as I like F Gore he's never come close to matching LTs numbers in his prime (I mean his total number of TDs and total Yds compared to Gore)...T Romo had great WRs and one of the best TEs in the league. Alex Smith had Brandon Llyoad as his #1 receiver how is that even fair to compare And I'm not going to bring up SD OLine and the Cowboys OLine and how much better it was than what A Smith had...and You dont think A Smith improved much over his rookie season going 1 TD 11 Ints to 16 TDs and 16 Ints? and a QB rating that almost doubled from 40. to like 76 the next year? That's a huge improvement in my book. Like I said Joe Montana would have looked like a beat up QB on that 05 team...

Anyways all thanks for the great replies...I'm glad for the most part even the posts that were negative about A Smith were at least thought out.

Originally posted by SoCal9ers:
one word, inconsistant

Originally posted by D-NOTTE:

Originally posted by D_Niner:
I don't think most on here would call him a bust. I think most are disappointed with his performance to date. I mean, we didn't draft this guy 1st overall to be average...

Is he even average?

To this point; no.

I'm so tired of hearing about this under performer. If he would only do his job on a CONSISTENT basis, but he never has, never, yet, 6 years in going on 7.

It would be nice if we didn't have these threads about this guy. Like we could kind of forget about him and only expect good things from him since he would have already proved himself a consistent performer at a high level as per his draft pos.

You know, like we expect him to do good/great because he does all the time. This, instead of worrying when he will throw the killer pick at the end of the game or lay out yet another WR/TE/Runner with one of those ongoing high and behind throws.

I hope for the best this year; the "make or break" year.

NINERS!

Yeah I feel sorry for his lack of starts. But hey, this just in from B Rows at practice today:
Alex Smith's first throw against the defense was intercepted by Spencer in 7-on-7. Smith was slightly off-target for much of practice, throwing a little high and behind receivers.

---- There are other comments about his lack of accuracy today, as always pretty much. Wait though, he hasn't had enough starts.

Hope for the best this year. One of the good things though; Sing will pull players and replace them if they start to blow. Not like Nolan never changing players who don't perform.