Camp Alex means...

Sorry for the layoff everyone! Won't happen again, I promise. Let's jump back into it...

Camp Alex means....

Not a whole lot as it turns out. Much was made of the 49ers player organized OTAs (organized team activities) that took place last week at San Jose State. Players, despite being locked out, were brought together by Alex Smith of all people and went through four days of practice and film study. Monday through Thursday hours were spent either on the field or in a meeting room. Players came from all over the country, all to practice with a quarterback who isn't even under contract. The team's starting center from a year ago, David Baas, flew from his home in Florida to make the last day of camp. The team's OL captain, Joe Staley, housed the recently drafted players that wanted to come and workout and second round pick/quarterback of the future Colin Kaepernick was in attendance as well.

The real star of the show was Smith, who'e time in San Francisco has been unfortunate for both sides (understatement). Since being drafted number 1 overall in the 2005 draft, Smith has played under now 7 different offensive coordinators, 3 head coaches and missed pretty much 2 seasons due to injury. Throw in the fact that the team he was on in 2005 should have been playing in the Arena League, and I think you can make the case that there's a reason he hasn't been a very good player. Everyone is quick to throw Smith under the proverbial "bus" including teammates, including Michael Crabtree. Smith didn't live up to expectations in 2010, and was benched multiple times. But who on the team, other than future Hall of Famer Patrick Willis, really did live up to expectations? Everyone was bad, which makes the lockout of the players that much harder to swallow. The teams new coaching staff, led by Jim Harbaugh, has had one morning in the last 3+ months to talk to their players. The lockout was lifted on Thursday April 28th, so some players were able to come in on the morning of the 29th, right before the lockout was back on that same afternoon. Some were able to get playbooks, Smith got one even though he's a free agent.

Alright, so that paragraph, no matter how long doesn't even do the Alex Smith drama justice, so please if you'd like more info feel free to read more about the trials and tribulations of the San Francisco 49ers from 2005 until now. It's a good, depressing read.

Back to Camp Alex. Not gonna lie, doesn't mean a whole lot because no coaches were there. Unless everyone has a playbook and coaches are there watching their every step, the practices could not be as beneficial as normal OTAs. Smith was in charge and led the practices, but no matter how well he did he couldn't keep an eye on everyone. It's a nice gesture, and makes the fans happy but don't be too excited.

I'm an Alex Smith fan, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I want him to succeed. And if he never turns out to be a good QB, he's at least a goog guy who really did try hard, he's owned up to his mistakes. A couple years ago he even restructured his contract so that he would make less money. He wanted to earn starting QB salary, not have it handed to him. I'm pretty sure he dropped from 9 to 2 million on the last two years of his deal. I can respect that, and I hope this off-season will translate to season success.

Moral of the story is, the lockout sucks and is bad for everyone, get it done guys!!!

Stay Current,

Pat