Shaun Hill's problem is job security
I wrote up a quick post for NBCSports.com on Alex Smith this morning. (This is in my other role writing about "real" football the same way I'd write about fantasy football, but without the 'He's a QB2.' sentence at the end.)
The end of the post is why I mostly disagree with Wesseling's love for Shaun Hill this season. The man isn't going to have great job security.
It's not a shock that Smith is outplaying Hill in practice because of his physical skills, and I expect Hill will open the season as San Francisco's starter. But I would be shocked if Hill kept his job if the 49ers were under .500 at any point after September. Maybe the 49ers will finally win, but they haven't done it since Steve Mariucci left town.
Derek Anderson faced a similar situation last year, and lost his job. He had a higher ceiling than Hill, though, who I see as a good QB2 in a best-case scenario. I love the guy for helping to win our office league championship last year, but I'm not excited about a post-Martz 49er quarterback without great job security, no matter who it is.
Comments
Gregg,
I didn't quite follow this one.
Are you saying Smith is out-practicing Hill, but Hill will probably start week 1?
And what do you think about Anderson/Quinn this year? Will Anderson get the shaft again? I mean, what has Quinn done to earn the spot - other than have Anderson playing against tough defenses with a bunch of WR drops?
Posted by: A.M. | June 9, 2009 12:31 PM
I can't find the post as your Alex Smith link goes to a picture of him, not the post.
Posted by: Jesse | June 9, 2009 01:00 PM
thanks for the heads up. Link fixed.
I think Smith is expected to be better in practice, so he'd have to really outplay Hill in preseason for a chance. but the good practices will make hill's leash shorter.
Posted by: gregg | June 9, 2009 01:29 PM
its either a credit to him, or someone, that this guy keeps showing up as relevant. i could never take him tho. i would like to see him in a situation minus the mccoulgh effect.
Posted by: scott c | June 9, 2009 02:35 PM
i'm with gregg on shaun hill. when Wess was sober, he had shaun hill ranked 27th in his QB dynasty rankings. then either Wess started drinking (either alcohol or San Fran kool-aid), or someone took over Wess' computer, and suddenly Hill is a "high-end QB2"??? Granted, I assume that was a re-draft description and not a dynasty description, but still -- if anything, I'd expect Hill to have more dynasty value than re-draft value, given that his young WRs will get better with time.
Bottom line -- you can take a flyer on Hill in a deep dynasty league, but I can't see drafting him ahead of 20 other QBs in a redraft league this year.
Posted by: veggieb | June 9, 2009 05:16 PM
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Posted by: Cmcvrxik | June 28, 2009 08:08 AM
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Posted by: Cmcvrxik | June 28, 2009 08:08 AM