September 16, 2012; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh (left) and quarterback Alex Smith (11) look at their play cards during the fourth quarter against the Detroit Lions at Candlestick Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

Last year I wrote an article on Jim Harbaugh’s thoughts about Alex Smith getting into the Pro Bowl. December of last year Harbaugh said…

“There is no doubt in my mind that [Alex Smith] deserves to go to the Pro Bowl… There are other great players out there in the National Football League. I believe there are three that go to the Pro Bowl, right? Aaron Rogers, Drew Brees, Alex Smith. I think those are the top-3 in the NFC in my humble opinion.”

Only a few weeks later Alex Smith and the 49ers would face Drew Brees and the Saints. Alex would put on an impressive show for a “Game Manager”, throwing for three touchdowns, only one yard shy of 300 and 103 QB rating. Most importantly Alex had led the 49ers to a win against a favored Saints team. However with the loss to the Giants the next week, fans and critics would not get the chance to see Alex Smith vs. Aaron Rogers finally.

During the off season critics would again take their shots at Alex Smith. Several critics and experts would say they would pick San Francisco as a Super Bowl favorite if it weren’t for “Game Manager” Alex Smith. During the preseason the critics maintained their stance.

The impressive win against the Green Bay Packers was also a statement by Jim Harbaugh and Alex Smith. Jim would trust Alex with tough passing situations. Alex responded, his 20 for 26, 211 yard, and 2 touchdown game, showed that he is more than a “Game Manager”. The 49ers win against Green Bay paired with the Lions  shows critics that Alex has a place among the top quarterbacks in the NFC. Though the tough loss to the Vikings will be sure to cause some doubt to remain.

I think that we will see even more of Alex. As the season goes on, he will start using all of his tools more effectively. I am starting the campaign for Alex Smith to gain the recognition he deserves and gain a spot in the Pro Bowl for the 2012-13 season.

The 49ers obviously saw this problem coming this off season, they drafted Trenton Robinson from Michigan State in the 6th round of the draft and also grabbed 3 other undrafted rookie safeties in Mark Legree from Appalachian State, Colin Jones from Texas Christian and Michael Thomas from Stanford (where he played under Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio). The addition of these 4 safeties as well as the increased reps that backup safety C.J. Spillman is receiving due to Dashon’s abscence from OTA’s, means that this is not something that is going to shake the 49ers organization to it’s core. I believe this will be a “next man up” scenario for the Niners. This is not a position of a lot of depth for the 49ers but it is a position that has a lot of promise, albeit under the radar. When you enter a season with as much hype and expectations as the 49ers have this season, question marks and hold outs at a particular position are not good for your team. Having the Dashon Goldson conundrum hanging over your head could be just the distraction this team doesn’t need.

I think that it is almost a given that Dashon will sign his $6.2 million tender before the season but at what cost? More than the financial cost there is the distraction caused by however long this hold out will be. Should the 49ers be doing more to get Goldson a long term deal? 6 interceptions and his first Pro Bowl after taking a pay cut to come back to the team in 2011 says yes, they should be paying this man his money already. On the other hand, an NFC Championship game in which he was almost invisible (5 tackles, 1 pass defended) and a more than generous Franchise Tag offer says maybe he should just sign it and worry about long term next year or test the free agent market in 2013. It would be hard to argue that Dashon will get his money one way or the other, some one will pay him and why shouldn’t it be the 49ers? Safety is the one position of concern for this team if you wanted to nit-pick about it. While yes, Goldson did have 6 interceptions last season, the 49ers ranked 16th against the pass and would like to improve that statistic this season with another solid year and some better coverage from their safeties when it comes to the deep ball (they allowed 48 passes of 20 or more yards and 12 passes of 40 or more yards, 5th worst in the NFL). Dashon is definitely a hard hitter, with a pension for causing fumbles and coming up in run support, but that does make him vulnerable when it comes to playaction.

Let’s be honest, Dashon’s good plays are more visible than his bad plays from last season because when he made a bad play most of the time the rest of the defense helped out and saved him. I am not implying in any way that he had more bad than good plays but take a look at some film from that NFC Championship and tell me that Dashon didn’t look lost on a lot of plays and make some bad moves at the ball when he should have just played sound defense and made the tackle and/or batted the ball away. To me, it seemed as if he was trying to make a highlight reel on every play, which is something that he shouldn’t do, just make basic, smart football plays and the whole team will be on a highlight reel, at the White House, giving Barack Obama a jersey and hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.

So, what should the 49ers do here? Honestly, I say get him to sign the tender and then if you think that C.J. Spillman and the rookies you decide to keep (most likely Robinson and Thomas) can handle the backup role then trade him. There will be a market for him, either for a pick or two or a player. The problem is, if Dashon gets labeled as a head case, or a diva thanks to this hold out, would any team touch him? Or even talk to the Niners about taking him? Probably not. Once a player gets labeled as a problem, most teams won’t touch him, unless you are Cincinnati or Dallas (burn). So even though I think the 49ers would probably be better off without Dashon Goldson given the current circumstances, I imagine he will sign the tender within the next month and then test free agency next year. It’s sad too because after what he did last year I had a lot of respect for Dashon and without him putting up a fuss over this tender, I still would. If he has signed the tender with a promise from the 49ers about negotiating a long term deal during the season, then I don’t think we would even be talking about this. As it stands however, it’s the classic scenario of Dashon thinking the Niners owe him something and the 49ers thinking the opposite. Typically in these situations the team comes out on top unfortunately for Dashon. That’s why he is better off just signing the tender now and take what is (in most people’s opinion) a pretty lucrative contract. Even if it is only for one season.