And just like that we enter day four of Alex Smith's free agency chronicles. At @ninersnation (is that repetitive?) I have received more tweets about why Alex hasn't signed than anything else. People are wondering what the deal is and why this is taking so long.

We've had plenty of discussions on NN about Alex Smith and the new offensive coordinators, the problems he has had and so forth. As free agency continues, one has to wonder just how many teams would actually get in on the bidding for Smith.

Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks could conceivably get in on this as their pursuit of quarterbacks is really not working out. They seemed to want in on Peyton Manning, but Peyton did not want in on them. Matt Flynn came to town but now he is heading off to Miami to visit with the Dolphins. At this point, I would imagine he probably signs after Manning figures out his situation.

But really, is there going to be much in the way of competitive bidding for Alex Smith outside of the 49ers? In one of our threads yesterday, mountaindew77 made an interesting point: "It seems he's waiting for the Manningacolypse to settle before he does anything. I think his agent is feeding him information, telling him to wait it out and see what kind of offers he can get." Alex and Peyton share the same agent, so there is a certain amount of logic to that statement.

Nonetheless, given our endless discussions about Alex's new offensive coordinators, wouldn't you think most of the league would be on to the fact that it has taken time for Alex to figure out his groove? I suppose there might be coaches that think they can get more out of him, but it just strikes me all as a little odd. I don't think there has ever been a free agent quarterback quite like Alex Smith.

I continue to assume Alex Smith will return to the 49ers, but in reality, who really knows how this whole thing will play out. It's beyond baffling to me.