The Curious Case Of Reggie Smith

Reggie Smith presents a unique view into the evolution and maturation of Niners‘ GM Scott McCloughan.

Niner beat writers have reported that during the Mike Nolan years, Nolan made the final draft decisions on the Round One and Two picks, and largely deferred the decision-making on subsequent picks to Scott McCloughan.

During this time, both Nolan and McCloughan publicly espoused the draft philosophy of drafting the Best Player Available (BPA), with the notion that the coaching staff would subsequently figure out how to make best use of this “best talent’.

The pre-draft ranking of BPA’s was allegedly a collaborative process, involving both the scouting department and the coaching staff during the Nolan regime.

In the 2008 draft, the Niners selected Reggie Smith of Oklahoma with their third round pick. At the time, Smith was generally regarded as a CB-safety tweener, by the national draft prognosticators.

Immediately after Smith was selected by the Niners, Nolan was curiously quoted as asking, “where do I play him?” 

Later that same day, McCloughan stated that he saw a club need for a physical CB to play opposite Nate Clements, and that was the role that he envisioned in selecting Smith.

All of these comments strongly imply that the selection of Smith was ultimately McCloughan’s decision and not Nolan’s.

Now, fast forward to May 2009. Smith has been moved to back-up strong safety, behind Michael Lewis, after a most-uneventful 2008 season, when he rarely saw the field, and, even then, only in a special teams (ST) capacity.

No Niner authority has come right out and said it, but it appears that Smith has been a bust at CB, and his future with the team, if he has one, is at the safety position.

This conclusion would seem to be confirmed, if Smith remains at the safety position, in the wake of the season-ending injury to starting CB Walt Harris.

So, consider the above Smith situation, in light of the McCloughan quote in Tim Kawakami’s May 21, 2009 blog (San Jose Mercury).

Per McCloughan, “This year it was so important to me to say (at the draft) that I need to have conviction from the coaches. What position is he going to play? Where are we going to line him up? What can he do to help us win?”

Long-time Niner fans have recognized that all of the club’s 2009 draft picks have very well defined positional experience. There are no “tweeners” or position-changers in the Niners’ 2009 draft class.

This appears to be a significant refinement to the simple BPA philosophy, executed by McCloughan during the Nolan era.

Perhaps, Niner fans have witnessed a move to a draft philosophy more like the Pittsburgh Steelers, which might be best described as “who is the BPA for our system?”

At a minimum, it seems as if the Niners’ GM has evolved and matured in administering his responsibilities. And that development seems to be independent of the Nolan factor.