ALEX SMITH QUARTERBACK, PRODUCT OF THE SYSTEM

PRODUCT OF THE SYSTEM:
The System has had a Negative Effect on this Player

This is what was being said after the 2004 college football season about the player I think has been affected negatively by the NFL team he plays for. He was called the best college quarterback in the nation, was an exceptionally smart player with a big arm, was an elusive, tough runner and made good decisions.  His touchdown to interception ratio was 2nd in the nation at 5:1.  Can you guess who that player was?

I’m going to show Alex Smith, quarterback San Francisco 49ers, some love today.  If he can catch a break, I think he can settle into the quarterback position and produce for a NFL team, and more importantly, your fantasy football team.  Since being drafted number one in the 2005 NFL draft, Alex Smith has had his share of ups and downs.  I think a big part of the early problem can be found in owner John York.  York turned over every aspect of the 49ers football operations to a career assistant, Scot McCloughan (whom by the way was hired by HC Nolan as an assistant).  McCloughan had never been a personnel executive.    HC Mike Nolan and McCloughan made joint decisions on personnel but McCloughan made the final decisions after being made the GM.  McCloughan later fired head coach Mike Nolan.  Oh the shame of it all!

The constant rotation of offensive coordinators, in and out, has to have had a negative effect on Alex Smith.  Mike McCarthy and Norv Turner each spent one season as Smiths offensive coordinator before accepting head coaching jobs in Green Bay and San Diego.  Mike Martz became Smith’s fourth offensive coordinator in four years after being hired by HC Mike Nolan prior to the beginning of the 2008 season.  Half way through that season Nolan was fired and Mike Singletary was named the interim head coach.  Singletary fired Martz after being named the new Head Coach in 2009.  Mike Martz had used J.T. O’Sullivan initially to start the 2008 schedule but when Singletary took over as interim head coach he benched O’Sullivan in favor of Shaun Hill.  The Hill / Singletary combination finished with a 5-4 record (whew whoo), over the last nine weeks to give the 49ers a 7-9 record for the year.  That was the best record recorded by the team since the 2002 season.  This all sounds a lot like the problematic coaching carousel that failed quarterback Jason Campbell of the Washington Redskins, and now the Oakland Raiders, during his career.

Add to the mix some below average wide receivers and pretty bad offensive line play that reached all the way back to the days of Dennis Erickson (HC 2003-2004 / record 9-23).  Alex Smith wasn’t even a quarterback in the NFL during those horrible days.

Now let me give you some positives concerning Smith himself.  Alex was injured or on injured reserve during three of his first four years.  That, in my opinion, was due more too poor offensive line play than bad play by the young quarterback.  In 2006, just one year after entering the league, Alex Smith had one of his best years.  He played all sixteen games and ranked 18th among all fantasy football quarterbacks in scoring.  After suffering shoulder injuries in 2007 and 2008, Alex Smith took over quarterback duties once again in week seven of the 2009 fantasy season and completed the final ten games scoring 205 fantasy points for a per game average of 20.5.  Coach Singletary and the whole team heaped high praise on Alex prior to the 2010 season opener.  After starting the first seven games, Coach Singletary decided to start the quarterback-go-round.  Smith finished 2010 with 176.36 fantasy points, was ranked 28th among fantasy quarterbacks, and he threw 12 td’s in 8 games.

Jim Harbaugh was named the San Francisco 49ers head coach in January 2011.  He has indicated he would like to keep Alex Smith around.  Harbaugh had some success with his quarterbacks while coaching at Stanford.  Greg Roman, Harbaugh’s offensive coordinator at Stanford, was offered the same job on the 49ers coaching staff by the new head coach and Roman accepted.

It might be in Smith’s best interest to stay in San Francisco since they have, not only a new coach, but a new coach with an offensive mind.  Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary were both defensive minded coaches and I think that hurt Alex Smith’s development.  Therefore, I say Alex Smith was affected negatively by the San Francisco 49er system.

Article provided by: Jim Piatt
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