Even though 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh opened the door for speculation about his quarterback situation, that doesn’t mean Alex Smith is upset about it.
Harbaugh has stopped short of declaring a starter since Colin Kaepernick’s precocious starting debut Monday, when starter Alex Smith was out with a concussion.
But in his first appearance with the media in a week, Smith said there were no hard feelings.
“In my opinion, if you can’t be happy for your teammate’s success, you’re playing the wrong sport,” Smith said, via Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee. “Go play tennis or golf or something. It’s ridiculous, I think. That doesn’t belong in team sports, in my opinion.”
Smith has always been able to maintain good locker room relationships amid questions about who was starting, whether it was Tim Rattay or Troy Smith or Shaun HIll. But Smith and Hill were groomsmen in each other’s weddings, evidence that it’s possible to be a mature adult and a competitor at the same time.
As to his health, Smith said he still wasn’t cleared for contact, and again practiced in a black no-contact jersey.
“I feel good. I feel really good,” Smith said. “So I’m kind of expecting things to go well, . . .
“I tried to push it {last week] and went out and practice and I just wasn’t right and the doctors didn’t end up clearing me. I’m not going to get into the symptoms that were going on. Tried to push it earlier in the week and there were still some lingering things.
“Ultimately the decision came down to me and my health and was I OK. And I didn’t feel like it was something to tough through and can’t really tough out something like that. Hopefully, the doctor is going to clear me.”
Asked if he thought the starting job would remain his if he was healthy, Smith replied: “I guess you don’t expect anything. This is the nature of the game. The next guy steps up and plays well. That’s part of the deal in this game. Competition is part of it as well. Don’t know what’s going to happen.”
After what he’s been through in his career to get to this point, the fact he handles uncertainty so well speaks to his character.