Alex Smith (from Niners fan)

[DMH]

I have not looked, but I can only imagine that there has been some furious debates on here regarding Alex since last February. As a devoted life-long niner fan, I might be able to give you a little insight on his play and development. I have seen every snap Alex Smith has taken in a niner uni and most of his final season at Utah. When he first came into league he was lost and team was atrocious. The current Oakland Raiders probably have better overall talent than the niners did then. He had no weapons. No real offensive line. He turned the ball over constantly. IMO he had worse rookie showing that Blaine Gabbert. Under Norv Turner he began to look like competent Qb. Took huge step back when Turner left. Went through injuries and benching under Mike Nolan and was benched again under Mike Singletary. The Smith I saw after Harbaugh took over is a different player. For what its worth, this what KC probably gets with Smith: - Smart QB, used to have horrible turnover issues which seem to have been corrected over time
- Very efficient passer, does not throw many incompletions when he gets into rhythm
- Not strongest arm in world, but not bad.Actually throws pretty nice deep ball, just doesn’t throw it often
- Risk averse, will take sack rather than throw ball up for risky pass.
- No gunslinger mentality whatsoever. Helps avoid turnovers, but rarely comes back from large deficits
- Much better athlete than given credit for, can be fairly mobile
- Has not proven he can win without elite coaching staff, defense or running game
- Tends to hold on to the ball too long sometimes
- Very good at learning new systems, had to learn about 7 of them with niners inept OC turnover
- Loves to check down to RB or TE, receivers numbers will probably drop
- Model team mate and will do whatever is asked of him
- Does not have small hands, for what its worth(that was odd rumor that floated for years)