Alex Smith

Alex Smith appeared to be the odd man out in San Francisco. The Miami Dolphins were already one of the odd teams out in the Peyton Manning derby. Sounded like a match made in heaven ... or at least a match made on the Island of Misfit Toys. While free-agent quarterback Smith was considering a three-year offer from San Francisco, the team he led to the NFC championship game last season, members of the 49ers hopped a plane to North Carolina to watch Manning work out. Meanwhile, Manning informed the Dolphins last week that they were no longer in the running for his services.

In a move that surprised no one, former USC quarterback Matt Cassel was released by the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday with two years left on his contract. News broke weeks ago that Kansas City had agreed to trade for former San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Alex Smith. That deal became official on Wednesday, the same day the Chiefs signed former New Orleans Saints backup Chase Daniel to be their No. 2 quarterback. Cassel signed a six-year, $63-million contract with the Chiefs four years ago. At the time, he was coming off a magical season with the New England Patriots, leading the team to a 10-5 record as an unknown backup thrust into the spotlight when Tom Brady suffered a season-ending injury in the season opener.

Alex Smith thinks passing yards are an overrated stat. And Joe Flacco thinks he's the best quarterback in the NFL. Seriously, what has gotten into the mediocre quarterbacks of the NFL this off-season? Perhaps they're getting tired of being referred to as mediocre -- especially because both Smith and Flacco had fine seasons and had their teams heartbreakingly close to the Super Bowl last year. Flacco's comments were made months ago, so we've had plenty of time to digest (and stop laughing about)

Alex Smith is now a physical away from becoming the starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, with the San Francisco 49ers officially announcing the trade of their former No. 1 overall pick on Tuesday. Just seeing his name in same sentence as the phrase "starting quarterback" -- and with the word "former" nowhere to be seen -- must come as a relief to Smith, who lost the 49ers' top spot to Colin Kaepernick more than midway through last season despite leading the team to the NFC championship the previous year and to a 6-2-1 record before getting hurt in 2012.

Alex Smith is now a physical away from becoming the starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, with the San Francisco 49ers officially announcing the trade of their former No. 1 overall pick on Tuesday. Just seeing his name in same sentence as the phrase "starting quarterback" -- and with the word "former" nowhere to be seen -- must come as a relief to Smith, who lost the 49ers' top spot to Colin Kaepernick more than midway through last season despite leading the team to the NFC championship the previous year and to a 6-2-1 record before getting hurt in 2012.

The San Francisco 49ers have reportedly agreed to trade quarterback Alex Smith to the Kansas City Chiefs. The deal can't officially be made until March 12 when the new league year begins, but FOXsports.com says the teams have reached an agreement, and USA Today later confirmed the arrangement. The details of the trade have not been released, but according to the San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco could receive Kansas City's second-round pick in April's draft - No. 34 overall - and a “similar” pick in 2014.

Colin Kaepernick was spectacular in his first-ever NFL start Monday night. The San Francisco backup quarterback, playing while starter Alex Smith recovers from a concussion, threw for 243 yards and two touchdowns during the 49ers' 32-7 victory over the Chicago Bears on national television. Coach Jim Harbaugh was asked about his quarterback situation after the game - and seconds later a quarterback controversy was born. “I usually tend to go with the hot hand, and we've got two quarterbacks with hot hands,” Harbaugh said.

For only the third time in his not-so-storied career, 49ers quarterback Alex Smith passed for 300 yards. It happened to help San Francisco rout the Buffalo Bills, 45-3, and establish a new team offense record at 621 yards. That's right. Smith's superlative effort -- 303 yards passing and three touchdown strikes -- wasn't even the better half of the yardage equation. The 49ers rushed for 311 yards, with Frank Gore gaining 106 in 14 carries and Kendall Hunter adding 81 in 11 carries.

Alex Smith may not have lost his job as the San Francisco 49ers' starting quarterback. But he may have had it taken from him. Smith was cleared for contact Sunday morning after missing the previous week's game with a concussion. But instead of joining his teammates on the field against the New Orleans Saints that afternoon, Smith stood on the sideline, ready to go with helmet on, only to watch popular backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick lead the 49ers to victory for the second week in a row. Do you think the Pittsburgh Steelers would have left starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on the sidelines Sunday had he been cleared to play?

Alex Smith is expected to ask for his release from the San Francisco 49ers before the start of free agency, according to a report Monday by Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio. What could possibly make Smith want to leave a team that is just days away from playing in the Super Bowl and looks to be the makings of an NFL powerhouse for years to come? Just a hunch, but it might have something to do with the fact that the former starting quarterback was benched midseason despite taking the 49ers to the brink of the Super Bowl last year and had completed 70% of his passes in leading the team to a 6-2-1 record this season.

The San Francisco 49ers have reportedly agreed to trade quarterback Alex Smith to the Kansas City Chiefs. The deal can't officially be made until March 12 when the new league year begins, but FOXsports.com says the teams have reached an agreement, and USA Today later confirmed the arrangement. The details of the trade have not been released, but according to the San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco could receive Kansas City's second-round pick in April's draft - No. 34 overall - and a “similar” pick in 2014.

Alex Smith is headed to Kansas City, the first major acquisition by the Chiefs since Andy Reid took over as coach. A person with knowledge of the trade told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the Chiefs have agreed to a deal for the 2005 top overall draft pick, who lost his starting quarterback job in San Francisco to Colin Kaepernick last season. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the trade does not become official until March 12, when the NFL's new business year begins.

Alex Smith's career with the San Francisco 49ers appears to be over. A tweet from CBS' Jason La Canfora on Sunday said that a deal that would send the 49ers' former starting quarterback to another team is "effectively complete. " Such a transaction, however, can not actually take place until the NFL year begins on March 12. So until then, all we can do is speculate. The Jacksonville Jaguars would seem to be a likely candidate, with the Blaine Gabbert experiment not working out so well after two subpar seasons.

John Harbaugh was a bit sheepish about his emotional outbursts at officials in Super Bowl XLVII, but his combustible younger brother said Tuesday he didn't regret his own eruptions of emotions. "We fight to win," San Francisco Coach Jim Harbaugh said in his season-capping news conference at 49ers headquarters. "And if you're asking does my personal etiquette need to be changed, more catatonic on the sideline? I don't anticipate that happening. " Jim Harbaugh was particularly upset about a pivotal play at the end of the game, when he felt receiver Michael Crabtree was held by Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith on fourth and goal from the Baltimore five-yard line.

Barely two months ago, Alex Smith stood alone under center as the NFL's hottest starting quarterback for one of its best teams. One concussion later, he is lost in the crowd. At the San Francisco 49ers' Super Bowl media day this week, the hardest thing about talking to Smith was finding Smith. While the team's stars spoke on stages set up on the Superdome field, Smith had no assigned spot and thus wandered through the media hordes on the sidelines, nearly invisible and seemingly irrelevant.

Alex Smith is expected to ask for his release from the San Francisco 49ers before the start of free agency, according to a report Monday by Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio. What could possibly make Smith want to leave a team that is just days away from playing in the Super Bowl and looks to be the makings of an NFL powerhouse for years to come? Just a hunch, but it might have something to do with the fact that the former starting quarterback was benched midseason despite taking the 49ers to the brink of the Super Bowl last year and had completed 70% of his passes in leading the team to a 6-2-1 record this season.

Alex Smith is headed to Kansas City, the first major acquisition by the Chiefs since Andy Reid took over as coach. A person with knowledge of the trade told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the Chiefs have agreed to a deal for the 2005 top overall draft pick, who lost his starting quarterback job in San Francisco to Colin Kaepernick last season. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the trade does not become official until March 12, when the NFL's new business year begins.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The most improbable, unbelievable throw by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith didn't even hit its intended target. It came last Saturday before Game 1 of the National League division series between the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds, when Smith had the honor of throwing out the first pitch. Who could have guessed that Smith, once the Bay Area's most derided athlete, would get those raucous cheers as he walked out to the mound? This was a guy who went from the NFL's No. 1 pick, to a struggling starter, to a backup, to nearly being cast aside by the franchise that had rushed him onto the field.

ATLANTA - Twenty years ago, Jerry Glanville, then the goofball coach of the Atlanta Falcons, concocted a way to get under the skin of the San Francisco 49ers. Seeing as his team the year before had swept the 49ers and Los Angeles Rams, along with beating the L.A. Raiders and San Diego, Glanville lugged an enormous trophy on the Falcons sideline at Candlestick Park for a 1992 regular-season game. He called the hardware the California State Championship Trophy. "It drove me crazy," former 49ers tight end Brent Jones told the San Francisco Chronicle this week, recalling the trophy and the 56-17 thrashing his team put on the Falcons that day. "I was so angry at the time.

San Francisco and Atlanta both passed significant milestones last Sunday. The 49ers won a divisional game with Colin Kaepernick at quarterback, getting just as far as the benched Alex Smith got them last season. So now we'll see whether the second-year Kaepernick can take the club the next step, getting it to its sixth Super Bowl. The Falcons, who had been 0-3 in postseason games under Coach Mike Smith, finally picked up their first playoff victory under his tutelage, and now have a chance to prove wrong all their doubters.