Bust label too strong for Smith

Interesting article from Mark Kreidler

In my opinion, Kreidler oversimplifies. No, the 49ers did not have to draft a QB in '05. The offense and the defense were full of holes. There were impact players at the top of the 1st round, such as Braylon Edwards (who would have filled a need at WR). The Niners decided to draft a QB when they thought Leinart would be in the draft, and ended up settling for Smith rather the re-evaluating if QB was the right way to go.

The Niners botched a lot the last few years, but Smith is to blame for his current situation. He went into a QB competition which was, based on his contract, his competition to lose. And he lost to a journeyman who couldn't get off the bench in Minnesota or Detroit. I'm a Niners fan, and I've been holding out hope for way too long. It's time to call Smith a bust.

over 3 years ago Exhibit G 3 comments 0 recs |

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QB

While I won’t say they completely needed to take a quarterback in ‘05, it’s certainly defensible that they did (or felt like they needed to). The quarterback is one of the more difficult positions to make “NFL ready.” There is no set time window, but most people think it takes 3 or 4 years for a QB to finally show his stripes. With the rebuild in mind (and a 5 year contract to Nolan and McCloughan), it makes complete sense that they felt they needed to take a QB in ’05. Think of it as giving him the head start.

On top of that, they had good QB coach as their offensive coordinator. No one could have seen McCarthy leaving after one season (and one VERY poor one at that).

I’m not saying that Smith isn’t a bust. He’s certainly getting close to it, if he isn’t already one. I’m just saying that it’s not completely off-base that the 49ers felt they needed to take a QB in ’05. Sure, they could have taken Edwards, but who would have thrown him the ball, Rattay?

The only reason I’m not ready to call him a bust is because I don’t think he’s had a fair opportunity to show some continuity in his career. If it isn’t with the 49ers, I hope the next team he lands on will at least have a solid (read: stable) offensive coordinator who can at least stick with Alex for at least two or three years. Changing the MOST IMPORTANT person to a QB in his earlier years EVERY YEAR is most definitely NOT a good thing for him. I’m not saying he’s going to be good or great. I just think he deserves a better shot at showing he can be.

by sfgfan on Aug 26, 2008 9:12 AM PDT reply actions

I always thought Rattay was kind of underrated. He’s obviously not a very good quarterback, but he was never the disaster behind center that he’s often remembered as being… even with his propensity for ill-timed turnovers.

My Dave Righetti is better than your Dave Righetti.

by howtheyscored on Aug 26, 2008 4:01 PM PDT up reply actions

Yeah.

I’m not trying to make him out to be some sort of sober-Druckenmiller or anything like that. I’m just saying that he wasn’t that great of an option anyway, so you can’t fault the team for taking a chance on a (REALLY) young prospect that has the physical tools and abundance of intelligence.

by sfgfan on Aug 27, 2008 9:02 AM PDT up reply actions