Quarterback Alex Smith has agreed to a new three-year deal to stay with the San Francisco 49ers, sources confirmed to ESPN.com senior writer John Clayton.
The 49ers and Smith reached agreement on a deal that sources told ESPN senior NFL writer Chris Mortensen is set to pay the former No. 1 overall pick an average of roughly $8 million per season.
Smith had been weighing a three-year offer from the 49ers. The 27-year-old made $4.9 million in base salary in 2011, plus earned a $1 million bonus for reaching the playoffs.
I am happy with the signing. I do not fault the team for pursuing Manning because they'd have been crazy not to. (How often is a mega-superstar QB like that a UFA? Not that freaking often.) But now that the dust settled there, this is the direction we need to go. We can build on last year and see what happens with a retooled offense.
I am happy with the signing. I do not fault the team for pursuing Manning because they'd have been crazy not to. (How often is a mega-superstar QB like that a UFA? Not that freaking often.) But now that the dust settled there, this is the direction we need to go. We can build on last year and see what happens with a retooled offense.
SF did what they had to do. You have that strong a Defense, no other competition in the division (Rams & Hawks are going to need another year or so to be legit contenders). Cards are the only real competition, but they need better QB play out of Kolb.
In the short-term, I thought SF was the better option for Peyton. If he lasts only 2 years, the 49ers seem to have what he needs to win now. Great D as mentioned. RB in Gore, TE in Davis, and signed Moss and Manningham as WR to go with Crabtree.
Manning could have been the guy to get Crabtree producing like he did at TTech.
Smith needs to take his game to another level. He'll finally be in the 2nd year with the same Offense. Have to be able to stretch the field and take some pressure off the D.
Smith needs to take his game to another level. He'll finally be in the 2nd year with the same Offense. Have to be able to stretch the field and take some pressure off the D.
They have the receivers to do it now. Outside of Davis they didn't have that against the Giants with the injuries to Ginn and Morgan along with Edwards being a bust signing. It will be good for him to be in the same system for a second straight year, the constant coaching turnover is one of the reasons he struggled.
Smith didn't have THAT much to do with last years great season. QQuite a fw guys could have take n that team far, Will give him his props for that finish against NO though, that was fun.
The guy had a 90.7 qb rating, 11.6 points better than Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Well when you watch the 2 theres a big difference. Fitz tries to stretch the field and Smith makes a lot of short safer throws. Pennington probably also had a good QBR in his day. The Niners D and running game were it's stremgth. They would have been fine without Smith. A Trent Dilfer type guy would have worked.
Also Smith's WR's and OLine didn't all seem to get hurt last season.
Well when you watch the 2 theres a big difference. Fitz tries to stretch the field and Smith makes a lot of short safer throws. Pennington probably also had a good QBR in his day. The Niners D and running game were it's stremgth. They would have been fine without Smith. A Trent Dilfer type guy would have worked.
Also Smith's WR's and OLine didn't all seem to get hurt last season.
The big difference between the two is that Smith protects the ball and Fitzpatrick doesn't. Smith was top-10 among QB's in comp% when throwing the ball over 20 yards. And when his team really needed him to pull games out, he did (Saints, Detroit,Philly, NYG 1st game). People just can't seem to let go of how bad Smith and the 49ers franchise was his first 5 years and just accept his play for what it is now, which is good.
I don't know if you missed the NFC Championship game, but Vernon Davis and Frank Gore were his only 2 passing options. Crabtree sucked and their #2 WR was a concussed Kyle Williams. Part of the reason Smith didn't put up Madden '12 numbers was because they simply didn't have good receivers.
