Unless your name is Ben Roethlisberger the first thing you’re looking towards as a rookie quarterback is your second season. For Alex Smith, he might be looking for his second team after his second year if he does not turn around a disastrous rookie year. Perhaps he worked out some of the bugs that plagued him last year, because he looked nothing like a number one draft pick. Often though quarterbacks that have struggled as bad as Smith did his rookie year never turn around. Furthermore, the 49ers organization is not on the cusp of anything but being a basement team with no chance of advancement. So Smith, will be in for many years of what David Carr has went through, and the pounding may not be endurable for him.

Smith needs to buckle down and just play his game. Too many times last year he just aired the ball out and carried week to week with more careless plays. What did not help is the fact that he had a poor offensive line and no running game. Still, you have to give your team some hope for them to respond. It all falls on his shoulders and he needs to show something to motivate others. Hurting your team with eleven interceptions and only one touchdown pass hurt his team in more ways than one can think. Imagine the motivation level of a team that was thought to lose before the season, and then Smith coming in and playing awful every week?

We here the supposed great players in Randy Moss and Michael Vick admitting to not playing all out on certain plays. Just because they have spoken about it the media and others love to criticize it. Just like in any line of work though, there are going to be times that a person is not giving it his all. None of the 49ers voiced their thoughts, but actions speak louder than words. There were no actions from the 49ers and the best times of their season were when Tim Rattay and Ken Dorsey were playing.

San Francisco went from being a team that everyone wanted to go to, to a franchise everyone wants too leave. They got themselves in deep trouble with salary cap issues and still are working their way out of it. It’ll take some time, and maybe in a few years they will have that extra money to lure athletes back to the bay. An incentive always to a free agent is heading to a team with promise. Promise always comes from the quarterback position, and before his rookie year that was thought to be Alex Smith.

From a fantasy standpoint, Smith’s value is likely the worst ever in terms of a fantasy football team. He has zero upside for this season, and will likely not be on any teams. If he is, we all know who gets the vote for worst fantasy football general manager. That manager would have had to suffer injuries to every quarterback he drafted, and also to his waiver wire quarterback pickup(s). It’s that laughable, because Smith is a Jake Plummer heyday throwback player. He is going to make mistakes and keep making them.

We won’t rag on Smith too hard, as everyone knows what is ahead for him this year. The main thing is what lays ahead beyond this struggling season. He is a tall quarterback that can deliver a football wherever he wants. If he can even have a couple of great games to show value to other teams, he can work his hand to force the 49ers to trade him or surround him with better talent. The good news for Smith if he stays in a 49ers uniform is that they will have a top ten pick every year for the next five years. From there though that means nothing but a chance for the 49ers to overpay athletes they won‘t be able to keep after their first contract. Based on their pick in 2006, the likes of Vernon Davis should pay tremendous dividends to Alex Smith, but not enough to move them out of a top ten draft pick in 07.