There's Absolutely No Way Alex Smith Returns to 49ers as a Backup in 2009

Two weeks ago, Mike Martz Nolan named J.T. O'Sullivan the 49ers starting quarterback, which meant that Alex Smith, the first-overall pick of the 2005 draft, would start the season on the bench.

Apparently, Smith, who seems like a swell guy, isn't very good at this quarterbacking thing, and consequently, he's been relegated to wearing a baseball hat, holding a clipboard, and feigning interest in the on-field goings-on once the season starts.

Come 2009, though, Smith will either be the starter or elsewhere due to his exorbitant contract. History suggests it'll be the latter.

Backup quarterback Alex Smith can't be the backup all season if he has any chance of returning to the 49ers next season, 49ers GM Scot McCloughan said today.

When asked if the 49ers might bring back Smith next season if he weren't the starter, [GM Scot] McCloughan answered, "You can't. The amount of money we're going to invest in him, he'd have to be proven that he's the guy. When we get to the offseason, he'd have to be the guy for next year."

Yeah, that's going to be a problem. Smith has all sorts of issues and it'll take an injury for him to see the field. And while that's possible -- this is tackle football, after all -- once he's under center he'll actually have to impress the front-office types enough to make them keep him around. So far, so bad on that front.

Smith is set to make $9.6 million in base salary next season and he'll cost $5.3 million against the salary cap in 2009. McCloughan is right: no sane person would keep a guy around at that salary and not play him.

Good news for Smith, however: McCloughan thinks having four coordinators in his first four seasons is somehow a good thing. "I think it's all going to help him for the future ... I still think he's going to be a good quarterback in the NFL and I hope it's here. In the NFL you never know, especially at that position."

The only thing it's going to help Smith do is hasten the end of his football career and allow him to get on with the rest of his life.