Alex Smith not offended by 49ers' Manning pursuit

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No harm. No foul. Alex Smith said his relationship with the 49ers and coach Jim Harbaugh is as strong as it's always been and that general manager Trent Baalke and especially Harbaugh kept him informed of the team's pursuit of Peyton Manning in recent weeks.

"As good as they've always been and getting better," Smith said today of his rapport with Harbaugh and the team. "The thing from Day 1 when I first met coach Harbaugh is that he's always been up front, he's always been honest with me. And he continued to do that through this entire process and that's one of the reasons I love playing for him." Smith on Wednesday signed a three-year contract worth as much as $33 million.

Smith said he knew about the team's pursuit of Manning. Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman flew to North Carolina to meet Manning on March 13 but the visit wasn't made public until Friday. Smith was fuzzy about when Baalke and Harbaugh went to his house and informed him of the interest. But while he said he the pursuit of Manning was "a little unexpected," he said he didn't have a problem with it.

"Not offended at all," Smith said. "In fact, I would have relished the opportunity to compete for the starting job with Peyton Manning." Asked if the 49ers really would have signed both Smith and Manning to deals, Smith said, "Well, the contract (offer) was out there the whole time. That's my impression. I guess that's a better question to Jim and Trent. But that's my understanding."

"I feel like ... well, I know this is my job," Smith continued. "I feel like I've earned it. I've earned the right to compete for it. And I've always welcomed competition and will continue to welcome it."

In their discussion of Manning, Harbaugh told Smith, "It would be about competition and the best man winning," Smith said. "And really that's the way it's always been with Jim. It was the same way with me last year when I got brought in. Nothing was ever laid out there, nothing was given to you. You were going to have to earn everything. And I agreed with it. That's the nature of this game going all the way back to when it first started - it's about competition."

So why didn't Smith sign the initial contract offer from the team? He said it had nothing to do with the years on the contract or the money involved - "Money's great for security, but I'm not a guy that has a bunch of flashy cars," he said. Instead he said "the issue came more from the structure than anything." Smith also said his relationship with agent Tom Condon never wavered. "I don't know where that report came from, but I think to a lot of people it made sense."

Asked about his Sunday trip to visit the Dolphins, Smith joked, "I'd never been to Miami Beach, and I thought it was a good way to go see it." Later he said, the visit "seemed serious at the time, but this was the plan all along. This is where I wanted to be."

On Monday, Harbaugh drove to Smith's house and met with him for an hour. Smith said that similar visits and phone calls were taking place throughout the free agency period and in the weeks leading up to it.

Said Smith: "I've been through way worse than this. Free agency is always going to be a little crazy -- maybe this year a little crazier than most."

This article was written by Matt Barrows and appeared in the Sacramento Bee.

Posted by Necesitamos Mas Football on 10:41 a. m.. Filed under 49ers , Alex Smith , gallery , nfc , noticias , principal , San Francisco . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0