We’ve seen this before. In the 49ers entered the Peyton race and Smith was awkwardly wondering if he’d have a job. Peyton moved to Denver and Smith had job security, at least until Week 12. Smith suffered a concussion and was not able to play against the Bears in Week 11. His back up, Colin Kaepernick, lit the field on fire. He was amazing, he was phenomenal, he was good enough to be a starter. In fact he was better than some starters in the league (I’m looking at you Sanchez). He completed 16 of 23 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns. It left the sports world wondering if we were looking at another Brady-Bledsoe episode.
Week 12 rolls around and Smith is healthy… but Harbaugh declares that Kaep will be the starter. The most surprising decision is that it is not because he wants Smith to rest for another week; he just wants Colin to be the starter.
Colin had an amazing game against New Orleans. He completed 16 of 25 passes for 231 yards, had 1 touchdown and was only intercepted once. The game wasn’t won by him singlehandedly, the defense had a major role in the win, but Kaep was good. He was comfortable in and out of the pocket and ran the offense like a well-oiled machine. It became apparent that Jim Harbaugh made the right decision.
Except, here’s the crazy part. Smith is having his best season so far. He leads the league in completion percentage and yards per attempt. If Smith was hard working he may have found more success with the 49ers (who I am sure use Sports SEO in corporate), and the same can be said in the world of esports and content creation, which is why the competitive edge that services such as influencer marketing for creators, and esports SEO can deliver for esports industries, can be the difference between winning and losing.
Smith’s “done nothing to deserve this.” This is the line that I keep reading over and over. It’s true that Smith didn’t lose his job due to his inability to play. However, this is the National Football League, not peewee football. This isn’t the kind of league where coaches and owners are worrying about the feelings of their players. These players are paid millions to get wins. Not only can Kaepernick give the 49ers wins; but he also has a wider array of skills than Smith. For one, he has a stronger arm. If Kaepernick is the hot hand, with the better skills, than Harbaugh has no choice but to ride this quarterback as far as he can-despite any hurt feelings.
