Niners Nation After Dark: Alex Smith Rumors Debunked?

Welcome back to Niners Nation After Dark, where we don't need an NFL CBA to have a good time. OK, that's not entirely true. We need a CBA so we can have free agency and trades and a 2011 NFL season to talk about. Football is our life blood and until we get a new collective bargaining agreement we're sort of on life support. That might be a little bit melodramatic, but I definitely don't know what I would do without football in 2011.

Speaking of the CBA, it sort of impacted some of our posts earlier this afternoon. At 3:15pm I posted a rumor that Alex Smith was "probably" re-signing with the 49ers before the CBA expired. This rumor came out from a source at around the time the NFL and NFLPA were announcing a 24-hour extension of the CBA expiration time. This raised some issues because the question has become what this means for signing players to contracts. Some folks are reporting the extension did NOT cover transactions and teams had until 9pm pacific this past evening to do any deals. Then there was reportedly a text from an NFL spokeman confirming the transaction freeze.

Whatever the case may be, Alex Smith has not yet signed a new deal with the 49ers. I won't necessarily retract the tip because the tip itself used the word "probably." I realize that raises a certain level of expectation, but it obviously left that person an out, which is perfectly reasonable. When I first posted this information I tried to couch the hedge things a little bit. However, at the end of the day it appears the small chance that wasn't "probably" is what came to pass.

This was actually the first "tip" I've received and I decided to run with it. Based on the phrasing of it I would do it again because I also think this doesn't close the door to an Alex Smith return. He might not return or this could just be a slightly longer wait. Either way I figure none of us could have expected to get the quarterback situation figured out all that easily. It's been a long and trying six years so it's only fitting that it last a little bit longer.