Monday, February 18, 2013
More buzz on Alex Smith
By Tim Kavanagh
With less than a month remaining until the start of the league year, we're still a ways off from an actual trade involving San Francisco 49ers QB Alex Smith. In fact, we coul very well see FA QB Matt Moore sign with a team before Smith or Matt Flynn is dealt.
But make no mistake, the 49ers do intend to trade Smith, provided they can get a reasonable return on him, and there are a number of teams that should be interested; name a QB-needy team, in fact, and there's likely already been a line of speculation linking them to a Smith trade. As we traverse the next few weeks of non-trading, however, Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee provides a primer on some myths that we'll see regarding a potential Smith trade, and why they're bogus.
The Niners must convince other teams that they're happy hanging onto Smith, so there's a myth being pushed that everything would be copacetic having Smith serve as the backup to Colin Kaepernick. In reality, this probably wouldn't work so well. On the other side of the debate, the teams in the market for a QB want to diminish Smith's value, so they are the ones pushing the narrative that a) there isn't a great market for his services, b) that the Niners owe it to Smith to release him outright and c) that his current contract is scaring some teams off.
The third part of that may be the case for a team like the New York Jets, who are currently in a tough cap situation, but other suitors are better off (such as the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs and Jacksonville Jaguars). It's really not a matter of if the Niners will trade him; rather it's for how much and to whom.
