Well the Niners have already said he will more than likely be back if he takes a significant pay cut.
On the poll I voted no, but my reasoning is a little different from everyone else. Shaun Hill needs to be our starting QB, period. We all know Hill is not a good practice player and that's probably why he rode the pine for so many years, but he clearly shows up to play on Sundays and he's a winner. Alex Smith, if he returns, normally looks very good in practice. See where I'm going with this? The fact that Alex Smith was the number one draft pick gives him a little advantage when it comes down to a QB race. Couple that with the fact that Hill is not a good practice QB and we might end up seeing the inferior QB starting next season. That's all bad.
That being said, I'd like to see what Alex Smith can do now that he's taken time and been able to sit & watch the game from the sidelines. He needed to do that from the beginning. All this bullshit about how Smith "cannot make a lot of throws" and "doesn't have a good arm" is pure nonsense. He has the arm, that's not the problem with him. The problem is the game seemingly went too fast for him. He didn't go through his progressions before tossing the ball out of bounds. He didn't take off on the run when he should have. He simply didn't know what to do when the plays broke down.
There are many excuses for Alex Smith and most of them are more than valid. His line sucked, he's still young, he's never had a legit receiver aside from Antonio Bryant, he's had a different offensive coordinator every season, etc.. The one thing about Alex's career that has been constant is Jim Hostler. We all saw how inept that motherfucker was. He was Alex's QB coach from day 1 and then his OC in 07. Nobody knew how bad the guy truly was until he became OC, then it became apparent he does not know what the fuck he is doing.
Give Alex Smith a good coach, a decent line, a legit receiver or two and let him get used to a system for more than a single year and who knows, he might be pretty good.
As of right now though, if he returns, I want him riding the pine.
On the poll I voted no, but my reasoning is a little different from everyone else. Shaun Hill needs to be our starting QB, period. We all know Hill is not a good practice player and that's probably why he rode the pine for so many years, but he clearly shows up to play on Sundays and he's a winner. Alex Smith, if he returns, normally looks very good in practice. See where I'm going with this? The fact that Alex Smith was the number one draft pick gives him a little advantage when it comes down to a QB race. Couple that with the fact that Hill is not a good practice QB and we might end up seeing the inferior QB starting next season. That's all bad.
That being said, I'd like to see what Alex Smith can do now that he's taken time and been able to sit & watch the game from the sidelines. He needed to do that from the beginning. All this bullshit about how Smith "cannot make a lot of throws" and "doesn't have a good arm" is pure nonsense. He has the arm, that's not the problem with him. The problem is the game seemingly went too fast for him. He didn't go through his progressions before tossing the ball out of bounds. He didn't take off on the run when he should have. He simply didn't know what to do when the plays broke down.
There are many excuses for Alex Smith and most of them are more than valid. His line sucked, he's still young, he's never had a legit receiver aside from Antonio Bryant, he's had a different offensive coordinator every season, etc.. The one thing about Alex's career that has been constant is Jim Hostler. We all saw how inept that motherfucker was. He was Alex's QB coach from day 1 and then his OC in 07. Nobody knew how bad the guy truly was until he became OC, then it became apparent he does not know what the fuck he is doing.
Give Alex Smith a good coach, a decent line, a legit receiver or two and let him get used to a system for more than a single year and who knows, he might be pretty good.
As of right now though, if he returns, I want him riding the pine.
