The Arizona Cardinals will most likely jump into the mix for Alex Smith, according to a report by Kent Somers of The Arizona Republic.
Somers says that the Cardinals believe the early struggles from Smith's career were a result of the consistent offensive coaching changes with the 49ers since 2005. Smith played his last full game against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 8. He had a record completion percentage by completing 18 of 19 passing attempts en route to a 24-3 victory. One week later, Smith suffered a concussion against the St. Louis Rams which led to being benched for the remainder of the season in favor of Colin Kaepernick.
This would be unusual for the 49ers to potentially trade with a division rival, but it has been done before. A recent example is when Donovan McNabb was traded from the Philadelphia Eagles to the Washington Redskins for second and fourth round draft picks. As of right now, the 49ers have 11 picks for the 2013 NFL draft and are expected to have three more compensation picks in addition. Jim Harbaugh was confident that the 49ers would be able to trade Smith.
The Cardinals recently traded for Kevin Kolb in 2011, which would create a quarterback controversy of their own if they acquired Smith. Kolb has a $13.5 million cap hit and it would be reduced to $6 million if they choose to cut him. Smith is under contract for two more seasons and would have a $9.75 cap hit in 2013. The 49ers would have to pay him $8.5 million if he remains on the roster by April 1.
Smith has wanted a chance to start and logically would get that chance of he was traded to either the Chiefs or Cardinals. He would compete with Matt Cassel or Kolb on the Chiefs or Cardinals respectively if he went to one of the two teams.
If Smith was traded to Arizona, he would reunited with G Adam Snyder, who signed with the Cardinals last offseason. The dark side of playing in Arizona is the pass protection Smith would be given. Arizona allowed the most sacks during the 2012 season and this led to Kolb's injury.
Teams have the right to discuss trades, but a deal cannot be finalized until March 12 at 1:00 p.m. PT at the earliest. Let the bidding war begin.
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