Smith to stay a 49er

The 49ers met with Alex Smith to restructure his contract, where now Smith will be making $4 million for the next two years in 2009 & 2010 season. In his original contract, Alex Smith was supposed to make around $24 million for the next two seasons. “We have reached an agreement with Alex and his agent to keep him as a member of the San Francisco 49ers,” general manager Scot McCloughan said in a statement. “Alex expressed a deep interest to remain with the team and that feeling was mutual.”

It was Smith’s loyalty that kept him with the 49ers. Last year, many people would’ve predicted that Smith would’ve been released by the 49ers for his lackluster performance so far as a NFL QB and injuries. There were other teams interested in him. The guy could’ve left the 49ers, but he wanted to stay. I believe with a new head coach in Mike Singletary, maybe Smith can produce.

I’m happy that the 49ers organization are keeping Smith on the roster, rather than trading him or releasing him. Let’s remember that Smith was drafted number one in the same draft as when the Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers in the late rounds of the first round. Right now, Rodgers is looking like the best QB from that draft class. When the 49ers drafted Smith, they needed a QB badly. They had no QB to take charge of the team. So it was a simple choice to draft a QB in the first round and to quickly start him right away. Well, that’s where the 49ers kind of made a mistake. I think the 49ers should’ve gotten a veteran QB to help aid Smith and develop his skills. On the current 2004 roster, the 49ers had Ken Dorsey and Tim Rattay as their QB’s. Those guys couldn’t help Smith and mold him into a decent QB in the NFL. If you look at Aaron Rodgers or even Carson Palmer, they didn’t start a NFL game until their third season in the NFL. Palmer was sat behind Kinta and Rodgers sat behind Favre, who help mold them into the players that they are today. They sat and learned and watch their counter parts take the lead of their teams in the locker room, on the practice field, and in game situations. Those players were Palmer’s and Rodger’s blueprint. You can’t throw a small shark into an ocean of larger sharks. They’ll eat all the food right away because that little shark has no experience, no one to mentor him and aid him on how to do the things he needs to do. That is what the 49ers did with Smith. You need to groom your young QB for the future. I think with Damon Huard on the 49ers roster now, he could help Smith out and progress into a decent QB. The 49ers haven’t lost everything yet with drafting Smith firs overall. He is not a bust yet, he still has time to develop into a good QB. I hope he does for the 49ers sake.

I think now with the draft coming up, it seems very unlikely that the 49ers will draft a QB in the first round. I think they should draft a WR to give some throwing options for Smith or Hill. They could still draft a QB, but it won’t make any sense. Or get some help for their defense like somewhere in the front line or even offensive front line to protect the QB from getting sacked every single time. The 49ers have many options.