Jim Harbaugh Discusses Alex Smith, 49ers QB Situation In Radio Interview

by David Fucillo on Jul 19, 2011 12:01 PM PDT in 49ers QB 2011

The Brothers Harbaugh made an appearance on ESPN Radio Chicago in part to discuss the upcoming season and in part to promote their appearance on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel tonight. The new episode of Real Sports will look at the entire family as Jim and John join their dad Jack in the coaching ranks. The episode airs at 7:00pm pacific on HBO-E and at 10:00pm pacific on HBO-W.

Naturally the radio interview included a question about Alex Smith and the 49ers QB situation. As would be expected, Harbaugh stated that the coaching staff didn't know who the best players were on the team at this point. He said he was looking forward to the training camp competition that would hopefully include Alex Smith (covering his backside from further NFL complaints), Colin Kaepernick, and "we will see who are other quarterbacks are and our free agents and get going."

Harbaugh referenced any potential politics in the decision:

Throw the balls out there and let them compete for it with no politics, no games and no ‘I like this guy better than that guy.' We will go out there and find out who the best guy is."

We all know Jim Harbaugh likes something about Alex Smith. He has heaped praise upon him throughout the offseason to the point of getting in trouble with the league. I do think part of it is knowing that the lockout puts them in a tough bind where the odds were going to increase that Smith would return. At the same time, Harbaugh (and Baalke I would presume) liked Colin Kaepernick enough to make a move for him on day two of the NFL Draft.

To date we haven't heard a whole lot about where the coaching staff views Kaepernick, but given the lack of surface interaction, that's not exactly surprising. Harbaugh has had a chance to do some work with Alex Smith and his interactions with Kaepernick have been relegated to when the team was working him out and didn't know if he would be around when the 49ers made their pick. It will be interesting to see if Captain Comeback and his coaching staff take more of a shine to Kaepernick when training camp begins.

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Even if Kaepernick outperforms Alex Smith during training camp.

I’m sure Alex will be the starter next season, to start with at least.

Alex Smith 86%+ QB rating with 22+ TDs in 2012, hopefully! :)

by teekay on Jul 19, 2011 1:46 PM PDT reply actions

I'm not that confident...

I will wait to make statements like that until I see both play in 2011.

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by Drew Kerr on Jul 19, 2011 2:24 PM PDT up reply actions

about 24 days until the first game!!!!

"You know whats funny? I always thought uhm dogs lay eggs and I learned something new today" Peter Griffin

by HUNGRY HUNTER on Jul 19, 2011 2:52 PM PDT up reply actions

Alex would have to be pretty bad in the pre-season for Kaepernick to jump him by opening week

that being said, Alex hasn’t ever had a good pre-season.

Just with the short off-season and new system if the “starters” ( with Alex ) will be playing the entire first halves of pre-season games, and thus even if Kaepernick performs well, it’s against non roster players.

by whistlingmountain on Jul 19, 2011 4:31 PM PDT up reply actions

Does anyone have a link to the video or audio for this interview?

"You know whats funny? I always thought uhm dogs lay eggs and I learned something new today" Peter Griffin

by HUNGRY HUNTER on Jul 19, 2011 2:53 PM PDT reply actions

if CK beats AS out,

it would be a failure of epic proportions on AS’s part. Its like them both running a 400m dash: CK starting from the 400 mark and AS starting from the 200 mark. CK may (and I say may just for argument purposes) have the tools to beat him in a fair race but this is sooo far from a fair race.

What do you guys think about their attributes if you had to compare?

Give tha guy a break...I remember losing most of our games because of mistakes by players that did not play the quarterback position.

I'm sure Norv Turner is a good judge of a good QB...even he said the guy can be good w/ quality people around him.

by NewAgecorner1 on Jul 19, 2011 7:21 PM PDT reply actions

Its really hard to say

Kaeps a smart dude, but it’s hard to tell if he’s overconfident in his adjustment to the pro’s. The way he speaks to the media it seems as if he thinks the mental aspect will not be a big deal, BUT he has yet to face an NFL defense.

From watching the “from the pocket” tapes of him in college a lot of those throws barely got there on time, and only because of how strong his arm is. When playing against top caliber DB’s I have to wonder if he can make that leap that quickly.

All that being said Kaeps a gamer for sure and he may surprise us with a quick pickup, but I still think Alex has a HUUUGE edge.

Harbaugh will find a QB and he will succeed.

by goatfather on Jul 19, 2011 8:38 PM PDT up reply actions