Would you trade Alex Smith for Colin Kaepernick straight up?

[Alex Smith 4Ever]

I would not. Alex is a better quarterback right now and does not have the off field incidents of Kaepernick

[Kaepernick]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

And Drew Brees notched a 104.8 QBR in his 4th season in San Diego. Depending on which numbers you look at, statistically it was his 3rd or 4th-best season of his entire career. He's not even really in the discussion.

As I said, "he showed flashes of elite passing while in San Diego".

I noted that already. What flashes of elite passing did Alex show in his 1st 100 starts.

So with Drew Brees you had a relatively late bloomer, but he showed flashes of it much younger.

With Alex, you have a consistently steady, unspectacular, workman, journey, reliable, game manager both in San Francisco and with KC. All indications are that Alex has hit his plateau and you are not going to see significantly higher performance from him.

This goes back to my claim that Alex's ceiling is Kaepernick's floor. Kapernick, like Brees, has shown flashes of elite potential even as he needs a lot of improvement to move up form his current middle-tier status.

A lot of people hate QBR, but Kaepernick is the only QB that I have ever heard has posted back to back games with 99 QBR (out of 100 total).

Originally Posted by ESPN

His Total QBR ratings are a prime example of Kaepernick’s influence of the 49ers. In Week 7, he had a Total QBR of 99.0. Sunday, he followed up with a 99.8. It was the first time a quarterback has ever registered back-to-back Total QBR’s of 99.

http://espn.go.com/blog/san-francisc...n-kaepernick-7


Colin Kaepernick is a mid-tier young Quarterback of 32 starts, showing flashes of elite potential, being groomed by one of the NFL's QB gurus. Que Drew Brees.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Kaepernick

As I said, "he showed flashes of elite passing while in San Diego".

I was agreeing with you, FYI.

EDIT: You originally mentioned BOTH Gannon and Brees in comparison to Alex Smith. I was only letting you know that there was no comparison between Brees and Smith really. It's obvious now what you meant. You're going back and forth between Smith and Kap too fast. Slow down.

[Kaepernick]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Right. My point was that Gannon was the exception to the rule and he was allowed to be that almost SOLELY because of the Gruden/Callahan offense.

The Smith/Reid situation is strikingly similar. What that tells me is that Alex probably has a slightly better chance to strike gold than any old schmoe out there. He's literally in the perfect situation.



There were reports at the time that Reid talked to Alex during the bye week about being a leader and not being so cautious. Told him if he wanted to be a championship QB, he had to press the ball downfield more.

Whether or not it actually happened, I don't know. I do know that the Alex Smith we saw after the bye week threw the ball downfield A LOT more. I mean, the difference was almost immediately visible.



Our WRs suck. When the QBs favorite target is Dexter McCluster, you know you have problems. As always, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Alex needs to go downfield more often but the team needs to get him some people to throw to, too...

Well here is to Alex becoming the next Rich Gannon. There can never be too many great starting Quarterbacks in the NFL and it is far more fun to see quality play than mediocre play. I can't see it and predict it won't happen. If it does and Alex leaps up in performance, I will be thrilled for him.

Good luck Alex.

[Kaepernick]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

I was agreeing with you, FYI.

Thanks. I wasn't sure.

Internet communication is so much harder than sitting in a room and seeing how a guy says something.

Thanks for clarifying.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Kaepernick

Thanks. I wasn't sure.

Internet communication is so much harder than sitting in a room and seeing how a guy says something.

Thanks for clarifying.

I added an edit, just so you know where the confusion came from.

[Ragged Robin]

^I don't even know why this 49er troll (kaepernick) visits this board other than to explicitly talk about Kaepernick and shit on Alex/the chiefs. Mods should just ban him. He's not even worth responding to.

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Absolutely.

He didn't lose the game. He also didn't WIN it.

Isn't that, after all, what was said about Kaepernick?

It's not about blaming everything on Alex Smith anymore than it's not about making sure he takes zero blame.

It's about being fair and objective.

No, because Kaepernick DID LOSE both the SB and last years NFCC. Played like dung heep on fire in the 1st half of the SB, then got some garbage time stats and choked at the end. In the NFCC, he turned the ball over THREE TIMES in the last THREE consecutive drives they had on offense. Yes, that's the last three drives ending with the other team with the ball because of him.

I'm not even going to address the comments about the wild card game because it's outright laughable to say that Alex didn't do even MORE than enough to win the game.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Ragged Robin

I'm not even going to address the comments about the wild card game because it's outright laughable to say that Alex didn't do enough to win the game.

Way to jump right into the conversation without any context whatsoever.

[BeeHo]

Originally Posted by Kaepernick

Noting an outcome doesn't reveal a skill set.

Back on the real subject of Kaepernick's accuracy, here AGAIN for all of you who ignored it, is a chart showing that last year Kaepernick was the 2nd most accurate deep passing QB in the league last year. Unless you think that completing deep passes has NOTHING to do with passing accuracy.

*********************************************************

Source article for you to ignore:

1) Of course deep passes contributes to passing accuracy. problem is that you haven't presented the stats for Kap's 0-9 yds and 10+ yards percentages. Or are you possibly suggesting 0-9 yrd passes and 10+ yard passes don't contribute to a qb's accuracy?? Again, it would be nice to see overall completion percentage with then broken into tiers of distances.

2) that article/chart you sourced: if i'm reading it correctly says "Percent of 20+ yard attempts caught or dropped , 2008-2013"

Also, the article was published on Nov.23,2013, which was during week 12. There were 5 more weeks to play in regular season. I would like to see the percentages for the entire 2013 season.

[BeeHo]

Originally Posted by Kaepernick

That Andrew Luck sure throws an inaccurate pass.

Right?

Those are the stats from PFF. If you choose to ignore it, then go right ahead.


And oh, silly me. I did post PFF stats of deep stats percentages of 2013:

Here it is again:


Our Accuracy Percentage stat goes beyond your standard quarterback completion percentage, taking into account dropped passes, throw aways, spiked balls, batted passes and passes where the quarterback was hit while attempting to throw.

Acc%: Deep Passing

The Top 10

"Deep Accuracy gives a good indication of which quarterbacks were most accurate challenging defenses downfield and, with a big start in limited action in Houston, Case Keenum tops the list with a Deep Acc% of 53.1%. Rodgers is once again amongst the best here, as the only quarterback other than Keenum to finish above 50%. Super Bowl QBs Russell Wilson and Peyton Manning round out the Top 5 along with the surprise inclusion of Kellen Clemens."

Name Team Deep Acc. %
Case Keenum HST 53.1%
Aaron Rodgers GB 52.8%
Russell Wilson SEA 48.3%
Peyton Manning DEN 48.2%
Kellen Clemens STL 48.0%
Matt Cassel MIN 47.4%
Geno Smith NYJ 46.7%
Alex D. Smith KC 46.3%
Matthew McGloin OAK 45.7%
Mike Glennon TB 45.0%



I DON'T KNOW WHERE KAP STANDS. ONLY SHOWS TOP 10. Of course, you can put in the context that Alex Smith is near the bottom of deep pass attempt percentages.

[BeeHo]

Originally Posted by Kaepernick

My knock on Alex is that he is too cautious, is too risk averse. That is a far bigger issue than no deep ball.

Alex CAN throw deep passes and has done so. I am sure you've seen them. He is just unwilling to throw deep passes. He craves the sure thing. He hates failure and every incompletion is a failure. So he craves his check downs and short passes.

Fortunately he is a master of the short passing game. Fortunately, Andy Reid likes that. Fortunately Jamaal Charles can break big runs when Alex passes to him behind the line of scrimmage.

It is Alex's cautiousness that is my knock on him, not his deep pass. He would rather take the sure sack than risk a bad play. He would rather hit the open receiver behind the line of scrimmage, than the half-open wide receiver 30 yards downfield.

He manages the game and brilliantly. He is very smart. But you don't usually see the killer instinct you see dwelling in the champions. The ones who would rather hacksaw their cars in half than lose.

I will take Kaepernick's killer instinct any day over Alex's caution.

Yes, I agree that Alex has in recent years leaned on a very conservative style. But that's been changing recently.

[KCBOSS1]

No, but I bet a lot of SF wish they could make that trade.

[temper11]

Originally Posted by Kaepernick

The question is, now that a year of tape is out there on the Alex to Charles connection, will defenses adjust, or will Charles still be able to score 4 receiving TDs in a game where 2 of them come off long runs from passes behind the line of scrimmage.

Were the defenses able to adjust through 2011? How about after a year of "tape"... did they shut down the offense in the first half of 2012? Running a similar style west coast offense in KC that Harbaugh ran, did teams just completely load the box and take away Charles? Take a look at ball distribution numbers... Smith is one of the best at spreading the ball around and getting many different weapons involved. I don't know why people keep saying this when in three years, it has never happened.

[temper11]

Originally Posted by BeeHo

Yes, I agree that Alex has in recent years leaned on a very conservative style. But that's been changing recently.

Yes... but isn't that in part due to the fact that he is an effective Game Manager? He had great defensive play in SF and he played accordingly conservative and not putting his defense in a bad position. What happened when that defense did falter in the second half of the 2011 Saints playoff game? He became aggressive and was successful in doing so. Then in KC, the first half of the year, his defense was playing lights out and the offense was operating on a fraction of the playbook... He played conservative again, never putting his defense in harms way. Then when his defense failed to come back from the bye week and he was facing high powered offenses that put up a ton of points, Smith (and Reid) again let loose on the reins and were very effective. Seems to me that there is ample evidence that shows he is very capable of playing "liberaly" when the game requires it. He is indeed a highly effective game manager, playing the style of football (conservative or aggressive) that gives his team the best chance to win. It may not be flashy much of the time, but it has proven over the last 3 season's to be an effective way to WIN games. Isn't that the ultimate goal? Not who has the best YPG average, or who throws the most bombs?

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Originally Posted by KCBOSS1

No, but I bet a lot of SF wish they could make that trade.

They do....except for this Caper dick fella. Most want him back and are tired of the douche already.

[Sandy Vagina]

Nah.. from what I have seen, it's probably more like 85% of them are in favor of Kaepernick. He bedazzles the ignorant with splash plays of awe at times... and somehow, this masks his failures and deficiencies from them for the rest of the time.

It's really amazing how everything was "excuses" for one QB... but suddenly "legit reasons" now for the other.