According to Matt Maiocco yesterday, most players on the 49ers roster are staying out of commenting on the QB situation. Who is Jason Cole and what access does he have to the 49ers locker room? I mean, how would he get a bit of information no other beat report is reporting?

As for the opposing GM on how Alex Smith isn’t accurate, it’s a very… stupid comment. While it could be fair to say that Alex Smith is inaccurate (which he is, at times), it’s kind of goofy to use the argument that Smith “will throw two good passes and then miss on the third. That’s what he has always done.” Last time I checked, 2/3 as a passing percentage for QBs is very good, no?

As I said yesterday (I forget what post/fanpost/fanshot it was), I think the team wants to see more of O’Sullivan. Not because they think he’s the front runner or anything, but maybe the team already has an idea on what they have in Hill and Smith? It’s very possible Hill or Smith will get the call in the next preseason game.

In my opinion, Hill really has no talent. He has a quick release, but as I’ve mentioned around here before (probably not recently at all), Hill didn’t have anything to lose at the end of last season, and that may have affected the way he played. The 49ers were out of contention (long before he took over) and the entire offense was written off as “SUCK.” Hill had no where to take the team but up. On top of that, he is basically a “no-name, nobody” that has been previously ignored/undrafted, and released multiple times.

Pair those two things together and Hill really had nothing to lose. He had no pressure of being a #1 pick and the “future” of the franchise. He had no pressure of having to maintain a winning team while the starting QB was out. He was, literally, able to go out and “sling it.” Whether or not he actually carried that mentality into play last year is all a matter of speculation, but it’s not really that far fetched, right?

Alex Smith had the physical AND mental tools to be a good QB. He has the (somewhat) double-edged-sword-esque trait of wanting to be too perfect. Before training camp began, I was hoping Martz could instill a little more of a relaxed (or kind of gunslinging) mentality in him, as I think it would actually do him good. Because of his “potential” both physically and mentally, I think the 49ers think he CAN be their starting QB, and that, I think, is what is separating him from Shaun Hill.

JT O’Sullivan, like Hill, really doesn’t have anything to lose. On top of that, he has the added benefit of already knowing Martz’s system fairly decently. That, I think, is what’s separating him from Hill.

Basically, I think that when the 49ers supposedly made up Shaun Hill’s tired shoulder excuse over a week ago, they weren’t happy with Hill’s progress and Martz wanted to “re-introduce” O’Sullivan into the mix. The battle, I think, is really between Smith and O’Sullivan now, and I think the team really just wants a good look at O’Sullivan (or at least show the fans how much not-good, or suck he is) before they name Alex Smith the starter again. Like I said, they already know what they have in Smith, and now they need to figure out what they have in O’Sullivan.