'd rather give Gaggle a team than have an anonymous outsider. No offense against your buddy

#1162 by yotsuya

HOW ABOUT NO OFFENSE TO ME motherfucker??

I thought your religion was all about bringing outsiders into the fold.

Until last night�s final 49ers-Raiders practice session in Napa, I didn�t know what to do with the prospect of J.T. O�Sullivan as true competition for Alex Smith and Shaun Hill for the starting QB spot. Come on� really? I should take O�Sullivan seriously? It has to be Smith (because of the money) first, Hill (because he�s Mike Nolan�s guy) second� doesn�t it? But after that pass-intensive session, with O�Sullivan, Smith and Hill basically alternating two snaps then two snaps then two snaps or three/three/three against the Raiders DBs and LBs, I had to admit to myself, and now to blog world:

O�Sullivan might really win this job. If you removed all biases and past experience, if you took away salaries and considered strictly as Nolan might be considering it�who gives the 49ers the best shot to win immediately�it might be 1) O�Sullivan; 2) Smith; 3) Hill.

* Smith has the most natural talent, as displayed by several laser-shot out-patterns (two for TDs in red zone action), but makes the most grievious mistakes and looks the clunkiest when things aren�t going smoothly.

* Hill gets rid of the ball quickest, which is very important in Martz�s offense, but you do not want to see him throw it beyond 20 yards and he rarely does.

* O�Sullivan has the loud personality and command of the offense and has more of an arm than Hill, but rarely makes the kind of eye-popping throw that Smith can occasionally peel off.

So? I can�t believe I�m saying it, but, given the parameters of this competition�political, personal and otherwise�I believe O�Sullivan might have a 45% chance to start Game 1. I�d right now give Smith 35% and Hill 20%. THAT�S PENDING PRESEASON ACTION, OF COURSE. But unless Hill sizzles in the exhibitions, I think it should come down to O�Sullivan and Smith�with Hill as the designated No. 2 behind either one because Hill is the guy most likely to keep mentally in it if he�s the back-up and most capable of winning games later in the season if he�s not anointed No. 1 right away.

And I think that, even if O�Sullivan looks sharper now, as long as it�s close, Smith should win this summer derby and start Week 1 because the odds are that he will pick up the offense at some point and when he does, he�ll be far and away the best QB. It should be Smith, for at least the first four weeks of the season, then see if he deserves to keep the job. That might not help Nolan�s own job security�especially if Smith struggles against the early schedule (@Seattle Week 2, @New Orleans Week 4). But it�s what�s best for the franchise; if you pass on Smith for Week 1, that�s really making The Decision on Smith.

If you pick O�Sullivan, you�re saying Smith�s not the guy and probably never will be. After all that hope, hype and cash spent. Are the 49ers really ready to say that in the midst of such a tight competition? J.T. O�Sullivan as the 49ers� starting QB has to be CARVED IN STONE�once you go to him, there�s probably no going back to Smith. And nobody should be ready to carve that in stone as of yet and maybe not for a few months.

All of that could and will change dramatically after the preseason opener Friday against these same Raiders, but we have no idea how. Nolan and Martz won�t even say who�s starting the game and what the rotation will be. And I know I�m writing this after Peter King just speculated that Hill (my No. 3 guy) is the most likely starting choice for the 49ers. But Peter hasn�t watched practiced, that I know of. I just did.

Oh well. As I�ve argued for months now, I think there are three agendas at work here, all logical:

-Nolan likes gritty, quiet leader Hill because Hill basically saved Nolan�s job last year and made Smith seem like a dubious starter;

-Martz likes O�Sullivan, because Martz loves to show the rest of the NFL what he can do with their reject QBs;

-GM Scot McCloughan likes Smith because McCloughan always likes the most talented guy and somebody has to watch out for salary-cap consequences.

I think they�re all stuck right now. There�s no clear-cut choice and it�s very possible that at the end of three exhibitions (since nobody wants this to come down to the fourth and final exhibition), there still won�t be a clear-cut choice. Simply: None of the three are good enough for true separation.

I think Nolan will want to award all ties to Hill. I think a huge determining factor will be Martz�how hard does he push O�Sullivan? Does he think he can get more traction and credit by fixing Smith or creating O�Sullivan? Does he risk his reputation�and his head-coaching future�on JTO? I think it will end up as a basic two-way tie, and Smith will win that coin flip. There�s too much at stake to toss him aside now over a slight preference, unless Martz really decides the team has to move him out.

It has to be Smith, unless he totally flops in the preseason, with O�Sullivan and Hill ready to go if he flounders by early October.

Wut's a degerate?

No one cares about the SF QB situation. Except Shadarr, who no doubt will draft JTO in round 2.

/me puts down the Ravens D as my #1 draft pick

Go for it. They were too roller-coaster for me last year, whereas in years past they were a lock.

So if Funk is in, chris is still in. Otherwise, we drop to 10 teams unless there are other Crappers out there who want in.