Drama

How did it come to this? Now the World Wide Leader is reporting that Alex Smith is visiting with the Miami Dolphins today. So many implications can come from this, but there are two major assumptions I'm going to make;

First, Peyton Manning was the one who reached out to the 49ers, not the other way around. Although Harbaugh probably has the best poker face among all head coaches, I still believe that the organization was prepared to move forward with Alex as "their guy." Enter Tom Condon and Manning. Manning mentions to Condon that San Francisco would be an ideal landing spot for him to finish his career and BOOM, Condon stalls out the talks between Alex and the Niners to explore this new option.

Why would Condon do this? Manning is one of his prize clients, and lets face it, Alex is lower on the totem pole. It's this assumption that leads us to the reason why it was reported yesterday that Alex could possibly be firing Condon and switching to a new agent. Condon's only quote to that was "if a player fires his agent he must wait 5 days to hire a new one." Not the most confident rebuttal from an Agent defending a rumor that he's being fired.

Second, Alex Smith is done in San Francisco. Many Niner fans may pass this off as no big deal, or a blessing in disguise. Smith is moving on, his ego has been hurt and he believes that the Niners are getting Manning.

All these assumptions indicate strongly that the Niners are the front runners in the Peyton Manning sweepstakes, right? Wrong. Although, I do suspect I'm probably on the right track here, I still think both Denver and Tennessee still have a great shot at signing Manning. He has strong ties to both.

So, what the heck? Why would the Niners do this? Why risk losing Alex Smith after such a great year? What do they do if Alex takes off for Miami or Seattle or somewhere else and Peyton decides to go to Denver or Tennessee? Two words- Josh Johnson. Yup, Johnson played for Harabaugh at San Diego State and Harabaugh has been VERY complimentary about him in the past. I'm sure the Niners are taking a calculated gamble with Manning that is very strong, but don't forget that these guys are totally prepared, they don't just shoot from the hip. I guarantee this situation came up and Johnson was the back-up plan.

So gear up Niner fans. I'm guessing we're saying bye to Alex Smith and hello to either Peyton Manning or a QB controversy between Colin Kaepernick and Josh Johnson in training camp.

About 48hrs. and counting...