This Year Is Alex Smith's Last Chance for the San Francisco 49ers

Friday, August 12th unofficially begins Alex Smith’s sixth season of professional football with the San Francisco 49ers. His struggles have been well- documented, and the choice to draft Smith over Aaron Rodgers is still much maligned.

This is Smith’s last chance to prove he can be an NFL starter.

Many were shocked when the 49ers signed Smith to a one-year, $5 million contract shortly after the end of the NFL Lockout. He’s never had a winning season, he’s wildly inaccurate and he lacks the confidence to lead a team.

This year is his last chance. The 49ers have a few quarterbacks waiting in the wings that will jump at the opportunity to start under center.  Second-rounder Colin Kaepernick is probably a year away from starting.

The clock on Smith is ticking.

The 49ers have an improved offense with the signing of Braylon Edwards. Their receiving corps, with Vernon Davis and Michael Crabtree, isn’t going to blow any teams away, but it will be respectable this upcoming season.

Smith won’t have any more excuses for failure. If he is unable to achieve something better than mediocrity, it is clear he has no future in San Francisco or the NFL.

I don’t agree with the 49ers for bringing him back, but I do see why.

It’s clear the 49ers drafted their quarterback of the future in Kaepernick, but they need a stopgap in the middle. Nobody else was going to go after Alex Smith aggressively, and the cost to bring a quality veteran, like Donovan McNabb was too high for the 49ers liking. It’s obvious they don’t want to admit Smith is a failure of a draft pick, and that’s why he was given another chance to redeem himself.

If Smith is unable to pull it together within the first six games of the season, I believe it's time to finally get rid of him for good. Smith will never play like a first overall pick, and the sooner the 49ers realize it, the better.

The situation is very similar to the Oakland Raiders with JaMarcus Russell. Russell is gone, and the Raiders are a better team as a result.

The 49ers need to be ready to make a similar move if Smith fails yet again.