Alex Smith experienced both the best and worst moments of his NFL career during his seven-year stint with the San Francisco 49ers. Before Jim Harbaugh showed up in 2012, Smith, a first overall pick in the 2005 draft, was 19-31 as a starter, during one of the worst periods in team history. Smith, initially considered a bust, eventually turned things around in 2012 helping lead the team to a 13-3 record, but told Graham Bensinger in the video above that his early years with the 49ers were defined by organizational dysfunction.
“I knew how dysfunctional the work environment I was in at the time was,” Smith said. “The culture at the time in the building, those first six years for me. I knew that it was really dysfunctional. I knew that this wasn’t the way that successful places operated, but when you’re a young QB it’s hard to vocalize that. It’s hard to stand up and say that. It’s hard to make the change because at that point I don’t know what the right thing totally looks like at the NFL level because I haven’t been around it yet. I did know the situation I was in was not the right way. Not healthy, just the culture, everything about it. Forget about coaching changes, the culture of the building was unhealthy. Completely dysfunctional.”
Smith pointed to one particular moment during the 2011 season that served as his rock bottom, when the home fans chanted for backup David Carr, while Smith was simultaneously berated by head coach Mike Singletary in a Sunday Night loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
“Sunday night in front of everybody,” Smith said. “National TV crowd. Feel like I’m battling, feel like I’m the guy that’s getting exposed out there. That there were a lot of other things that I’m taking the brunt of. Then all of the sudden I’m dealing with a head coach (Mike Singletary) on the sideline that’s in my face, screaming at me on top of fans chanting for the backup. You know and I was trying to please all of these people right? I felt like a head coach that didn’t understand at all what it took. Getting put out there in a situation that’s not optimal to go succeed, and taking all that and there’s finally a moment where you’re like, ‘screw this. I’m tired of trying to please all these different people, I’m done with this.’ Really kind’ve being a culmination of all that, and ‘I’m just going to play for my teammates, play for me, and not worry about all this stuff.’”
Smith also touched on Jerry Rice’s belief in Smith’s early years that he was not the quarterback of the 49ers’ future.
“Arguably the greatest football player ever … to be so vocal, doubt me, clearly his lack of support and what he thought about me — you certainly heard,” Smith said. “Certain words — those are hard to cancel out. So yeah, you hear ’em. You know they’re there. It’s tough.”
