San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York wants to retain Alex Smith
Written by Adrian Gregory Glover // January 30, 2013 // News // 2 Comments
San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York is a happy camper when it comes to his quarterback situation. Why shouldn’t he be?
It was the one-two punch of Alex Smith and Colin Kapernick that led his team to the threshold of the promised land.
Unlike others that have already stated that Smith is on the first thing smoking out of Dodge City, York is holding on to a belief that he can retain the services of both players.
York sat down with Pro Football Talk at the Super Bowl to declare his stance on the issue.
“I hope he’s with us,” York said. “From a cap standpoint, we have the room to be able to keep him. One quarterback is usually not enough to get you through a season. And to have two guys which the Niners had in Steve [Young] and Joe [Montana] for a long time, there’s no reason why you can’t have two guys on your team. And I hope we can find a way to make that happen.”
York stated that Smith has not made his exit request official.
“He hasn’t made the request yet, and that’s something we’ll assess at end of the season,” York said. “I think Alex has been very clear, he’s been very up front, he’s been very professional throughout this whole thing. And he’s still a captain of the 49ers. And I think Alex deserves the opportunity and figure out what he wants to do at the end of the season.”
The check-cutter also said that Smith did not lose his job to injury.
I don’t know that I would say Alex lost his job due to injury,” York said. “I think Kaep stepped up and played. And he got his opportunity and he took the most of his opportunity. It’s easy to say, ‘Well he lost his job because of injury.’ That’s not necessarily the case. And you need to understand that if you do go out there and play with a concussion, you might lose your career. And whether Alex is playing for us or he’s playing somewhere else next year, Alex has another 10 to 15 years to play in the National Football League because he was safe and he didn’t put himself in a position where he ended his career early.”
And Mr. York that career will play out somewhere else as Smith wants the ball in his hands.
