Hill has early lead in 49ers’ QB derby
It appears that Shaun Hill has the lead over former No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith for the starting quarterback job through the early stages of 49ers camp.
Both guys seem to be faring well, as Hill has completed 39 of 51 passes (76.5 percent) in 11-on-11 drills, while Smith has connected on 40 of 53 passes (75.5 percent).
During spring workouts, Hill also took an early lead, then Smith finished up as the better player. But early in camp, Hill reportedly is getting rid of the ball fast, reading the defense quickly, and leading his receivers well.
However, Smith is excelling with the deep passing game, something he had trouble with last summer due to his injury. On the short and medium passes, Smith tends to be a little gun-shy.
It appears both guys look much better than a year ago when they seemed lost in the complexities of the Mike Martz offense. It probably helps that the Niners have their best group of receivers in years.
“It doesn’t matter where we are today,” coach Mike Singletary said of the QB race. “I want to find the guy who is going to lead this team. Right now, I’m not seeing that guy. If you ask me to pick one of them now, I’m guessing. I don’t want to guess. I’ll say it is this guy today, but tomorrow it might be that other guy, and I don’t want to do that. I want those guys to compete on a level ground, and at some point in time, one guy will be better than the other and we’ll know that is the guy. That is when I will answer that quarterback question. Answering it now, to me, doesn’t make sense. It’s not going to be effective either way if I had to pick one today.”
Hill, for what it’s worth, has been the first guy to get reps with the first-team offense.
“Just going out there with the No. 1 group, there’s no added pressure with that at all,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter what group we are with out there. We are still evaluated on every play, so I didn’t read into that at all.”
Hill said there was nothing significant about opening training camp as the No. 1 quarterback. The only thing that matters to him is who is No. 1 at the end, and that he expects to win the job.
So do I – Hill, after all, led the Niners to four wins in the final five games last season.
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