I don't think this signing is insignificant. While I thought the 49ers would bring in someone to really compete with Alex Smith for the starting job, the fact remains that I don't think the team is 100% sold on Smith. He's erratic and easily rattled, and, just when you think he's hit his stride, his makes a series of mistakes. Perhaps they brought in Carr as the clear-cut backup to try to boost Smith's confidence, rather than putting him in a competition, but I still think there's a decent chance that Carr is starting for the Niners at some point this season.
Smith pretty much has one year to show he's the future or he's done here. The shoulder is fine. Nolan is history. Same OC as last year, no new system to learn this time. Good weapons around him in Crabtree, Morgan, V Davis, Gore. Weak defenses in the division, plus playing the AFC west this year too. No excuses. If he can't show consistency this year it's over. He's only signed through 2010.
Agree, but the 49ers very much have their sights set on winning that division, with the Cardinals bound to be a bit weaker this year, so if the team is clicking on all other cylinders but Smith is still problematic through 5-6 games, I bet they yank him for good.
Oh, I absolutely agree. I didn't mean he has a 16-game guarantee no matter how he plays. Sorry if I implied that. No, if he starts being the cause of losses, they should (and hopefully would) yank him and go to Carr. One of the reasons, maybe the primary one, that Carr was signed is that the offense can remain the same if he replaces Smith, whereas with Hill in there everything has to be dink and dunk again (geez, now that I think of it, despite a better arm, Carr also is a dink and dunk guy... oh well). Carr isn't signed as starting competition, it's Smith's job to lose, but if he insists on losing it I would hope they remove him when the time comes and not hang on too long.