Victor Contreras : Sac Bee

Originally posted by Joecool:

Originally posted by Otter:
The answer is both. The 49ers failed to properly develop him and coach him. But the reality is he probably should not have been the #1 overall pick.

I could have sworn they provided him with three extremely good OCs. Not the Niners fault, except for letting Martz go that the other guys left for HC positions.

McCarthy - OC of a team that was rated worse than the Houston Texans their expansion year. Was hired very late in the spring which limited his time.

Turner - good coach, got terrific results considering the low level of talent.

Martz - said Alex was ready to start in his system the week he re-injured his shoulder.

Of course none of those three were directly involved with QB training. That was typically handled by guys who had never played the position except in their elementary school yard.

What was the 49ers fault was hiring coaches who knew little about offense and nothing about developing QBs.

Originally posted by dj43:
The answer to this chicken/egg question is "chicken." Only a chicken can create an egg. An egg cannot exist by itself.

The same exact things were being said about Steve Young in Tampa Bay. "he hadn't stepped up," "he was a 'system' product,'" ETC., ETC.

It is correctly stated that we are all a product of who gets ahold of us first. In the case of Alex Smith, it was Mike Nolan who got his hands on Smith and began taking away his natural playing style and re-molding him into something else.

Eddie DeBartolo said in his interview last week that when the 49ers traded for Young they knew exactly what they were getting. They also knew it would take some time to re-mold him into the kind of player he became. IOW, it was ALL about coaching with Young.

Norv Turner's phone conference call this week was insightful. He knows and understands QBs better than anyone who has worked with Alex since he came out of college. He believes Alex DOES have leadership qualities and can be a standout QB in this league. Once again the message is about a coach who understands offense and how to work with a QB.

So I am voting with the experts who have "been there, done that." I am voting that Alex Smith is a product of poor coaching and personal mishandling while here in SF. Unfortunately, it looks like we will see the Steve Young cycle in reverse - another team with an insightful coach has recognized what Alex can be and will bring him in and turn him into the player the league thought he could be before the draft. This time the 49ers will be the loser.

How the worm has turned...

Great post. Hopefully after Alex moves on to greener pastures we can get past the curse of Steve Young.