Alex Smith

[e16bball]

15 hours ago, turtle28 said:

What’s our record again? Yeah... might want to retract this statement.

Weak schedule?

Weve played the Packers, Panthers, Saints, Cowboys (always a tough game), Atlanta and the Texans.

Packers have a great offense, we whooped them. Maybe you should just stop.

Turtle made the point, but this is something that I kinda keep seeing said (or at least implied).

We've already beaten the #1 offense and the #8 offense in the league (by yardage), and three of the top 13 scoring offenses in the league. The rest of our schedule is much much easier in terms of opposing offenses than the part we've already played against -- so if you consider the schedule weak (from an opposing offense standpoint) to this point, you're gonna love the cupcake walk we've got coming up.

[e16bball]

For what it's worth, I'd kinda like to see them consider Teddy Bridgewater as an FA. Probably unlikely unless they totally moved on from Smith, but if they did, I'd give him a shorter-term contract and see what he's got while waiting for the draft to deliver an opportunity at a prospect QB. 

He was a pretty darn good QB in his first two seasons, 87.0 passer rating and about a 56 QBR with 7.25 Y/A. Not exactly earth-shattering numbers or anything, but solid. And the thing that's interesting to me -- beyond the fact that he was so young -- is that their offense was pretty terrible at that point. Especially in his rookie season when Peterson got hurt. No weapons, terrible pass protection, and yet he still put up pretty solid numbers as a rookie. That's impressive to me. He's got the mobility/accuracy combination that we seem to value in QBs, and everybody seems to think the absolute world of him as a person and a teammate. 

I hate the idea of forcing a QB pick when there's just not a good choice there -- it's one of the few things I think Shanahan and Allen did well early on, sitting out that god awful 2011 QB draft class and just going with Grossman for a season instead of trying to roll the dice with someone like Locker/Gabbert/Ponder (who were all complete franchise killers). A young QB is the most important commodity in any sport, and the only thing worse than not having one is spending a high pick on the wrong one. If Smith is out, I'd rather roll the dice on Bridgewater (and use my draft picks on continuing to improve the rest of the roster) than on any of these QBs I'm seeing considered as the top options in this draft.

[turtle28]

@e16bball I think it all depends on how Colt performs. I expect Colt will be on the team next regardless of Alex’s situation but I could be wrong about that.

I think it’s more likely we start the season next year with either Alex (if he’s healthy) or Colt as our starter (if he performs well the last 6 games) and then, we draft a QB at some point to develop.

I like Bridgewater, I’m just not sure we get him.

[naptownskinsfan]

I don't think Bridgewater is an answer.  He's had his own gruesome knee injury, and he has yet to play much after it, not to mention the grind of a full season.  I think Bridgewater is a backup at this point.   And the rest of the free agent QB market is very thin, and doesn't have anyone better than Bridgewater or McCoy on it.

McCoy signed a new deal before the season started that added 2019 to his contract, so he will be back.  Given the severity of Smith's injury, and no one knowing how it will heal and how long the rehab is going to be, there has to be a QB drafted early, and not just someone to develop. 

They need to take a long look at the future of this franchise right now.  Alex Smith is going to miss the rest of the year.  That is a given.  Best case scenario is looking like Smith starts TC on the PUP list and could make an early return.  Worst case scenario that doesn't involve retirement is that he doesn't get healthy enough, or it isn't worth activating him in the middle of the season, so he misses 1.5 years of his career, to make a return in 2020 at 37 years old.  

So yeah, QB needs to be very high on their list.  Given the likely draft spot for a .500-ish team to division winner, there is likely going to be someone worth drafting that won't break the bank via trade like we've done before.  This is a draft class that isn't barren of talent, but it certainly isn't the loaded class that we saw last year- we should be able to find someone to pin our hopes on for the future.