Alex Smith was just simply amazing at the college level in football. With the Utah Utes, Smith led them to the Fiesta Bowl, along with a Liberty Bowl. Smith would finish out his career with 21-1 record, along with being one of the finalists for the Heisman.
Smith had very high expectations coming into the 2005 NFL Draft. The San Francisco 49ers were a struggling team, and they needed a franchise quarterback. Smith would have to be the option.
So with that, the 49ers selected quarterback Alex Smith as the number one overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft.
The 6’4″, 220-pound quarterback didn’t have a swell rookie season, however; posting 875 yards, one touchdown and ELEVEN interceptions, along with a 50.9 completion-percentage. All of this would go towards a miserable 40.8 rating.
Coming into 2006, Smith had thrown for nearly 3,000 yards, 16 touchdowns and 16 interceptions, along with an improved 74.8 rating. These were the numbers people were asking for in 2005. But coming into his third year in the league, Smith had to step it up.
He didn’t.
Out of all the quarterbacks, only Kellen Clemens had a worse rating. Smith would have 914 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions, and a 57.2 rating. Smith would later get injured and be put on the reserved list.
Meanwhile, Trent Dilfer would fill in, but he didn’t have much success either. Shaun Hill stepped up that year, and showed that he could be a starting quarterback in the league.
Coming into the 2008-09 season, Smith didn’t record a single statistic. He was placed on injured reserve while J.T. O’Sullivan and Shaun Hill stepped up. Actually, Smith had to compete for the starting job against these before the season started.
At this point, Smith was a bust. A big one. His best season was 16 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. That doesn’t seem good at all for a number one draft pick.
Things would suddenly get worse for number eleven, however.
Smith would then again compete for the starting job against Shaun Hill. It was believed that if these two couldn’t perform, they could even put in draft-pick Nate Davis as starter. He seemed like a dark horse to win it, but when it was all over, Hill came out on top.
It seemed as if it was all over for Smith. That was until head coach Mike Singletary helped revive his career, even help save his job probably.
Entering Week Seven of the 2009-10 NFL season, the 49ers were struggling in a game against the Houston Texans. Shaun Hill was doing so poorly, Singletary had to put Smith in during the third quarter. Down 21-0, people didn’t expect Alex to perform so well.
It started off with a touchdown pass to Vernon Davis. And that’s when everything changed. Smith would fine his go-to-guy and finish with a solid performance. However, it wasn’t enough for the victory, as San Francisco lost, 24-21.
After that performance, Singletary placed Smith back to his role as a starter. He would finish out the season well with 2,350 yards, 18 touchdowns and twelve interceptions, and a 81.5 rating. Despite not playing a full season, Smith played great.
Entering the 2010-11 season, Smith has a lot of high hopes and so do the 49ers.
They have a solid running back squad with Frank Gore and Glenn Coffee. Smith also has three great targets to throw to in Michael Crabtree, Vernon Davis, and Josh Morgan. The defense looks like it can be in the Top-Five entering this year, led by Patrick Willis.
When you look at it, the 49ers look like they will dominate the NFC West. And I think they will win it. San-Fran looks like they can finish anywhere between 9-7 and 12-4.
Smith looks like he has a real good year in for him. If he can perform on the level he played last year, maybe even better, he could be heading for a Pro Bowl year and show the fans what he should’ve been when he was drafted in 2005.
If Smith plays like the number-one overall pick type-guy in 2010, maybe he could be the Comeback Player of the Year.
Smith has a lot of time to fully revive his career. He is on his way.
He’s finally on the path to success.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Alex Smith is the worst thing that has ever happened to the Forty-Niners,point blank!!!!
hey mitchell shut it…like you can do any better you try learning a different playbook every season.and who the hell was I throwing to nobody and what about my o line crap crap crap…This year will be different…..
God bless Coach Singletary.
He's bulked up, grown up and now needs to step up. if he can pull 2 more years with the 9ers they will have thier QB and a winning team.
It's an ok article but misses things. First, Smith never should have played as a rookie. He came from a system that has no reads and didn't use timing. He really needed a year on the bench. Second, in 2007 he was very good the first three games, but for his receivers dropping 13 passes and two TDs in his first 86 attempts (all while the running game didn't work the line wasn't blocking for him).
When he came back, he played with a busted shoulder. Which, between the huge number of dropped passes (and TDs) in the first three games and his complete physical inability to play the next four games distorted the growth he was showing for a lot of reasons. It'd be like saying "RB 'X' is all washed up" because he couldn't run on a broken leg…
Last year, really only his second year healthy and trained as an NFL QB, he posted a respectable 81.5 QB rating. That's better growth than many quality QBs currently starting in the NFL showed us in their equivalent early growth.
I know the Smith-haters don't like to acknowledge any of that. They've been invested in hating Alex Smith since the day he was drafted. But I think it's clear that Smith has been developing through his career and there's no reason, besides blind hatred, to assume he will not develop into a solid NFL QB. I don't think he's going to be Joe Montana or Steve Young. But he should be every bit as a good as Jeff Garcia. And a LOT better than the scrubs the Smith-haters have hitched their bandwagons onto the past few years — Hill and O'Sullivan — and now pretend they never did….
ALL YOU SMITH HATERS NEED TO BE QUIET ALEX SMITH WILL LEAD THE NINERS TO A PLAY OFF BERTH SOME BIG NAME QBS IN THE NFL ARE NOT AS GOOD AS SMITH IS RIGHT NOW THE 49ERS HAVE PUT THERE TRUST IN SMITH SO JED YORK GIVE YOUR QB A NEW CONTRACT HE WILL TAKE YOU TO A SUPERBOWL IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF YEARS