What a difference a year makes. Last season, Alex Smith was widely expected to be on his way out of town. He had no contract, had a disappointing six seasons in San Francisco, under six different offensive coordinators, and had a new head coach coming to town along with the 49ers second round draft choice from last April – quarterback Colin Kaepernick out of Nevada.
But Smith and Jim Harbaugh hit it off and the 49ers signed Smith to a one year deal. He responded by leading SF to the NFC Championship game, and a 13-3 regular season record. Since then, the two have gotten close and re-signing Smith seems to be inevitable.
Examples?
Smith went to Indianapolis last weekend to accept Harbaugh’s Coach of the Year award (Harbaugh said, “I didn’t feel comfortable going up and giving a deep bow, you know, for what our players accomplished.”)
Second example, the two were playing golf together this week, including carpooling together from SF to Pebble Beach, and Smith is caddying for Harbaugh on Thursday during the AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach. Smith had been invited to play in the tournament, but had a prior engagement on the weekend so could only participate on Thursday, and agreed to caddy for his coach.
The tournament will include fellow quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Tony Romo (who will be paired with Tiger Woods).
Not to suggest that the close, collegial relationship between the two will result in any special treatment, but Harbaugh has said, “Obviously Alex is as high a priority as anyone on our team.”
And anybody that has seen the Harbaugh-Smith pregame “pump up ritual” can tell that they have a close, nearly father-son relationship.
Meanwhile, San Francisco 49ers rookie QB Colin Kaepernick is going into the offseason hoping for a chance to compete for a starting job. Kaepernick said this week, “I plan on being in San Francisco and plan on trying to take the starting job. That’s what your goal is as a football player.”
San Francisco will certainly focus on what is best for the team, but the strong relationship between Harbaugh and Smith, and the way Smith led the team this season (over 3,100 yards, 17 TDs and only 5 INTs) means that the odds on Kaepernick displacing Smith are pretty long.
