49ers Smith Needs To Prove He's Not As Good As Hill But Better

It's Aug. 10th, and after minicamps, OTAs and 17 training camp practices, the San Francisco 49ers and head coach Mike Singletary are no closer to figuring out who will be their starting quarterback.

Or, if they have, perhaps they should consider submitting their press conference video to the Academy.

On one hand you have Shaun Hill, who is, if not, at his peak then right at the precipice of it. He is extremely limited athletically, but has the fortune of playing a position where many men before him have done remarkable things without the benefit of having won a genetic lottery.

Hill has the dink-and-dunk arm and at times when he does try to uncork one deep at practice, it makes one wince. 

However, he is 7-3 as a starter, he isn't mistake prone, and he plays the part of a franchise quarterback remarkably well when it comes to body language and the podium.

He knows he won't ever convert everyone into a believer, but the only people he really needs to convince are Singletary and the 10 other fellas in his huddle.

Then there's Alex Smith, whose arm is rather pedestrian by NFL standards, but looks like it was positively Elway-ish when compared to Hill's.

Smith has made far more impressive throws at camp thus far than Hill has, but more poor ones too.

It doesn't help him any that despite his efforts to improve his body language, we still see the occasional shoulder slump. And while Smith is friendly and accommodating with the media, it still takes him too long to come up with the right answer at times. Being comfortable in the spotlight doesn't come naturally to him.

He is the boom-or-bust player who was chosen with the preeminent boom-or-bust draft slot, first overall (in 2005).

As an undrafted free agent making his way in the NFL, Hill has already out-achieved his pedigree. Every completion he throws the rest of his career will be a poke in the eye to the scouts.

Smith, on the other hand, was drafted to lead this team to a Super Bowl, if not multiple Super Bowls. You don't get picked No. 1 as a quarterback to be merely "good."

At numero uno, if your bust isn't in Canton one day, then you're a bust, period.

It would be generous to say that Smith hasn't done very much yet in the NFL when the truth is that he has done less than Hill.

The 49ers need badly for Smith to win this competition, if only to convince them that drafting him wasn't a colossal mistake. And there is some football logic in giving him the job since he has more of an upside than Hill.

Still, Singletary is a defensive coach and one gets the sense that if everything is equal, he'll sacrifice some play making for a guy who isn't going to make the big mistake and put the defense in a bad spot, the way J.T. O'Sullivan did so often last October.

It's up to Smith to prove in the preseason that everything isn't equal and that he's Alex Smith: No. 1 overall draft pick and not Alex Smith: J.T. O'Sullivan with a better personality.

Leadership Inaction

Much has been made these past two years of Patrick Willis' status as the team leader.

Whether he is the team's best or second-best player (behind running back Frank Gore), it is a title he has earned by merit on the field, but also partly by default.

The team is short on stars, there are no marquee quarterbacks, and most of the veteran defenders are solid but unspectacular role players.

Willis has been thrust into the mantle of team leader, at the urging of Singletary and fellow inside linebacker Takeo Spikes.

It is only natural for Singletary to see in Willis what he saw in himself; he plays his coach's old position and does so nearly as well.

However, that doesn't necessarily mean that Willis is a born leader.

Just as being the child of Hall-of-Fame athlete is no guarantee of sporting prowess, being a Pro Bowl middle linebacker doesn't mean that Willis is wired like Singletary or Baltimore's Ray Lewis. 

Last year after games, Willis proudly held court at his locker whenever the Niners won but refused to speak to the media after losses, a la LeBron James after the Cleveland Cavaliers were eliminated in the playoffs.

Some would argue that shows he is such an intense competitor that it's too painful for him to rehash losses.

I argue that a leader is accountable in good times and bad. If you take the roses—and Willis does—you have to take the thorns. It's not like anyone was going to personally blame him for the defeats anyway.

Fast forward to the present and we have Willis missing over a week with what his coach described as "a very slight ankle strain."

If it's so slight, why do we see Willis on the field in basketball shorts, taking day after day off while his teammates sweat through another two more grueling practices?

The obvious argument, of course, is that Willis is too valuable to risk and that it is wise for the team to be as cautious with his injury as possible.

Singletary himself said that they cannot risk rushing Willis back on the field before he's fully recovered because he'd want to do too much too soon and that he wouldn't know how to ease back into the flow.

Willis certainly looks healthy enough jogging on the side field, and he doesn't seem to have a limp.

Still, one has to wonder how it's going over with his teammates, seeing a guy in shorts leading the pre-practice stretches and shouting the macho battle cries, only to skip the actual practice part of practice.

It's one thing to have Singletary there leading them and barking orders in shorts. He's the coach and he's put in his time in this game. His resume speaks for itself.

Willis hasn't earned that level of respect, not yet. And the guess here is that he's going to lose what respect he has earned if he doesn't get back out on the field for real, and soon.

Youth vs. Experience at Right Corner

Cornerback Tarell Brown, who's been out since the second day of camp with a sprained toe on his left foot, was still watching practice in his sweatpants on Monday and seems unlikely to be ready for the Broncos game on Friday.

Dre' Bly has been getting all the first team reps in his place and should have plenty of motivation to show his best against the team that cut him, but so far he hasn't been able to put any distance between himself and Brown in the competition for the starting job opposite Nate Clements.

Bly has looked inconsistent in camp, which isn't a surprise at all given his gambling style of play. He'll jump a route on one play and look great deflecting a pass or making the pick. However, he'll try it the next time and get burned on a double move. Plus, at 32 years of age, Bly's recovery speed isn't what it once was.

Singletary was asked if the fact that Bly is practicing and Brown isn't is opening up a gap for Bly and his quick "no" was an ominous sign for the 11-year veteran. I believe the team will give the younger Brown, who already has two years under defensive coordinator Greg Manusky's system, every chance to win the job.

Same Old, Same Old

As was the case with Willis and Brown, no one else has come off (or come on) the team's injury report.

Starting left guard David Baas is still not around camp and his strained foot will be re-evaluated midweek. However, with him not being a spectator is not a good sign.

All purpose back Michael Robinson continues to be bothered by a sore groin and he too will be checked out again before long.

Backup tight end Delanie Walker missed his third-straight day with a concussion but was out on the field jogging around. He is listed as day-to-day.

Wide receiver Isaac Bruce was poked in the eye in the morning practice and missed some reps but he should be fine for the afternoon.

Cornerback Terrail Lambert was crumpled in a heap on the ground after colliding with another defensive back while attempting to intercept a wayward Smith pass and was fine after being checked out by trainers.

Perhaps the largest bruise he suffered on the play was to his ego. Not only did he not come up with the pick but somehow it deflected into the hands of receiver Michael Spurlock.

Finally, rookie running back Glen Coffee took it easy in the morning with a sore ankle, but he's going to give it a go in the afternoon as well.

Fullback Moran Norris isn't hurt, but missed another day of camp to attend to a serious personal matter. Singletary didn't know how long he'll be gone.