Alex Smith's possible release is making news. Arizona Cardinals, New York Jets and Cleveland Browns could be the new home for the San Francisco QB after the Super Bowl.
Alex Smith has been the good soldier since he was benched by head coach Jim Harbaugh for Colin Kaepernick in the middle of the season.
News has now started to filter out that Smith wants to be released by the team after the Super Bowl so he can find a new home in free agency rather than a trade. According to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com, Smith will ask for his release before the free agent signing period begins on March 12, making him eligible to sign with any team. Smith was the starting quarterback for the team last season when the 49ers went to the NFC championship game and was benched earlier this year after suffering a concussion.
Smith was the starter for the team last season when the 49ers went to the NFC championship game against the Giants and started this season as the No. 1 quarterback, but he was replaced following a concussion in Week 10 against the St. Louis Rams. Now he will never see the starting job again, barring some crazy injury to Colin Kaepernick.
Smith was excellent for the 49ers this season, completing over 70 percent of 218 pass attempts for 1,737 yards with 13 touchdowns and five interceptions before being replaced. According to Yahoo, "Smith received a $3 million roster bonus on March 26, 2012 - $1 million of which was deferred until March 15, 2013 - and his $5 million base salary in 2012 was fully guaranteed. Smith is due to earn $7.5 million in base salary in 2013, with $1 million already fully guaranteed. If Smith is on the 49ers' roster on April 1, the remaining $6.5 million will become fully guaranteed."
The 49ers could trade Smith, but they will only have a few weeks to do so, since Smith is due a $1 million roster bonus on the third day of the 2013 league year, which gives the 49ers around 48 hours to move Smith, and his contract, to another team's roster, according to Yahoo Sports.
Smith likely will now have to find a new home, but he will have plenty of suitors if he is a free agent, as many teams in the NFL need a competent starting quarterback, including the Arizona Cardinals, New York Jets and Cleveland Browns
The Jets and Cardinals are the obvious answers due to the horrible quarterback play there during this past season.
Arizona had awful play at quarterback between Kevin Kolb, John Skelton and Ryan Lindley. The offense ranked 32nd in the league in rushing and 28th in passing while averaging just 15 points per game, second worst in the league. The team wasn't able to use wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald as much as they wanted to because of the quarterback play, limiting him to just 71 catches for 798 yards and four touchdowns.
The Jets weren't much better with Tim Tebow, Mark Sanchez and Greg McElroy. The Jets were one of the worst offensive teams in the NFL and ranked 30th in passing with 180 yards per game, while scoring just 17 points per game, ranked 28th in the league. The team was better on defense, although they were ranked 26th in rushing. After the Revis injury, the team was able to recover with cornerback Antonio Cromartie, who helped the Jets rank second in passing yards.
The Browns could be an interesting choice because they have a new coach and new owner who did not draft their current quarterback and could try to spice things up by bringing Smith in. The new coach also said that he will not commit to Brandon Weeden as the starter before the season after he had that role in 2012.
"That's premature to say any of that," First-year Browns coach Rob Chudzinski said. "Until we all get together, we get the staff set, we get a chance to sit down and talk through personnel and everybody's on the same page with those things. You don't know watching tape necessarily how guys are. Sometimes guys will get out there and they get into the system and maybe it's a better fit. Maybe you see some things that you didn't see from tape, whether its game tape or practice tape so you just never know."
Last season the team ranked in the bottom-10 in the league in scoring with 18 points per game and ranked just 24th in the league in rushing, averaging just 99 yards per game.
Chudzinski helped nurture quarterback Cam Newton and coached him during his record-setting rookie season. Newton had another successful year in the system, throwing for 3,869 yards and 19 touchdowns along with 741 yards and eight rushing scores. The Panthers ranked fifth in total offense in 2011 and 12th this past season, gaining over 130 rushing yards per game.
Smith's path to free agency began earlier this season with the 49ers sitting at 6-2. Smith was sidelined after suffering a concussion against the Rams, forcing coach Jim Harbaugh to bring in Colin Kaepernick. The game ended in a tie and the following week Smith had to sit out, giving Kaepernick his first start in which he threw for 243 yards with two touchdowns in a 32-7 win over Chicago.
A controversy was started when Harbaugh said after the game: "we have two quarterbacks that have a hot hand", essentially tossing aside the old adage that no player in the NFL should lose their job to an injury.
With the 49ers since 2005, Smith showed skills on the field, but could never find a consistent rhythm, as he was given six different offensive coordinators in his first six seasons. Finally, in 2011, Harbaugh was brought in and instead of going out and bringing in other quarterbacks he convinced Smith to stay with the team and he signed a one-year $5 million contract. It paid off big time for the 49ers as they had the best season in a decade, going 13-3 while winning the AFC West.
Smith played well in the playoffs and got the 49ers to the NFC championship game before falling to the Giants, passing for 196 yards and two touchdowns in the 20-17 overtime loss. Following the 2011 season Smith was a free agent again and once the team showed interest in signing with Manning, he had to come to terms with the possibility of leaving. Instead, Manning signed with the Broncos and Smith returned to the 49ers with a three-year contract worth $24 million.
At the time of the Kaepernick switch, Smith was healthy enough to play and was ranked third in the NFL in passer rating (104.1), while leading the league in completion percentage (70%), making the move even more dramatic in the eyes of some in the media.
Kaepernick has proven to be a game changer for the 49ers, and was a huge part of Sunday's 28-24 win over the Falcons in the NFC Championship Game, throwing for 233 yards and one touchdown. He had a much different game from the one he played against the Packers, proving he can be a running and throwing quarterback.
Even though he played in parts of 10 games, Smith still put up some solid stats for the 49ers this season, throwing for 1,737 yards and 13 touchdowns with just five interceptions. Following the NFC championship game in which the team came back from a 17-0 deficit, Smith was quoted as saying he 'couldn't be happier' the team made it to the Super Bowl.
"I'm so happy, man," Smith told Mike Silver of Yahoo! Sports in the wake of San Francisco's 28-24 victory over the Falcons on Sunday. "This is so surreal. It's such a crazy time, such a crazy moment. Obviously, it's been a unique year, and it would be great to be in there. But I couldn't be happier. This is a great group of guys, and they're all Super Bowl bound. I'm just so happy for all of them."
Now Smith will be looking for a new home in the NFL. Will it be Cleveland, New York, Arizona? Somewhere else? One thing is clear. It won't be San Francisco.