Alex Smith Should Be the San Francisco 49ers QB, Not Peyton Manning

With Alex Smith as their quarterback, under Jim Harbaugh’s guidance, the San Francisco 49ers have come a long way from the team that seemed unable to find a clean offensive rhythm in the first few weeks of the 2011 preseason to championship contender.

Smith's cautious yet efficient regular season and his big passes to Vernon Davis in the postseason showed Smith was a changed quarterback after weeks and weeks of play. 

The Alex Smith of the Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary era DOES NOT make those crucial throws, toss only five interceptions in 16 regular season games – not including his interception-free postseason – or grow progressively throughout the year.

Harbaugh went from walking off the field after the 49ers’ preseason game with the Houston Texans, knowing his team had lots of work that needed to be done, to expecting them – with Alex Smith as its quarterback – to win beat the New York Giants in the NFC Championship game. That was the look of Harbaugh’s face in the postgame press conference that night; he knew his team should have been playing in Super Bowl XLVI, with Alex Smith as its quarterback.

It wasn’t exciting at times and there were the “well what if an even better quarterback was running this offense” option crossed the mind of many people during the regular, but Smith got the job done, and he did it really well.

The “other QB option” in the Harbaugh offense is now being revisited because one Peyton Manning, arguably the greatest quarterback of the 21st century, is a free agent for the first time in his career. Fans of every football team that needs a quarterback have screamed for Manning to come to their town, including 49ers fans.

It’s not hard to fathom what Manning could do with weapons like Vernon Davis, Michael Crabtree and Delanie Walker. He could probably tear defenses apart with just those three receivers. The fact is we don’t know that because Manning has played in ONE offense his entire NFL career. He’s run it very, very well, and there’s no doubt he could master Harbaugh’s with time.

Thing is, Manning has no time. He's 36 years old and coming off multiple neck surgeries. He could take one hard hit and his career could be finished. The potential risk is much worse than what the actual reward can be, especially when nobody knows how strong of a head Manning has on his shoulders with that surgically repaired neck.

Manning may have with the strongest neck in the NFL and play until he's 45. That doesn’t mean he’s the right fit in San Francisco. The 49ers have their guy. His name is Alex Smith. Jim Harbaugh trusts Smith and Smith trusts Harbaugh. “The blue collar life” rewards hard work and Smith has worked harder than anyone to be one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the NFL. He deserves to be San Francisco's starting quarterback until he proves otherwise.

Expect the 49ers to be a Super Bowl contender next year, with Alex Smith as their quarterback.