49ers Did The Right Thing In Releasing Aldon Smith This Year
By Sam McPherson
Former San Francisco 49ers sack specialist Aldon Smith, now playing for the Oakland Raiders after the 49ers released him in the preseason, was suspended by the NFL on Tuesday for a full year due to more off-the-field trouble with the law. While with the San Francisco organization, Smith tallied 49.5 sacks in 58 games (including the playoffs), but the talented defender couldn't keep clear of legal troubles that will now cost him even more of his career.
The 49ers took a lot of flack in 2014 for keeping Smith on the roster, despite a nine-game suspension resulting from multiple arrests for driving under the influence, illegal possession of firearms and a strange episode at the Los Angeles airport involving a bomb threat. Overall, Smith was arrested five times while with the 49ers before the team finally released him in August 2015.
No doubt, the San Francisco defense could use Smith's talent this year. The 49ers are just 22nd in the league with 16 sacks through nine games and Smith's sack rate noted above is something special. San Francisco chose to take the high road in this era of public scrutiny on the criminality of NFL players, especially in light of the Ray McDonald fiasco last year.
Smith notched 3.5 sacks for the Raiders this year in nine games, losing some of the effectiveness he had demonstrated with the 49ers over his four seasons with the San Francisco organization. However, Smith fit in to the Oakland organization's culture a lot better than he did with the 49ers. For decades, the Raiders have been willing to take chances on troubled players no one else wanted, for better or for worse.
Furthermore, S.F. has had enough drama this year off the field with the Colin Kaepernick situation and the post-Harbaugh free fall. The team wouldn't have been able to survive another maelstrom of bad press over more legal issues for Smith. If the 49ers had stuck with Smith, they just would have ended up losing him again; they did the smart thing by cutting bait and moving forward. The team had enough defensive woes already heading into 2015.
On the larger scale, more and more fans are becoming intolerant of criminal behavior from their team's players. Smith had established a pattern of behavior with five arrests between January 2012 through August 2015. Most people that get three DUIs end up in jail and when you throw in the two other arrests, it's clear Smith had some issues that need to be dealt with before he plays in the NFL again.
The 49ers tried to give him that help, they were patient with him. Arguably, Smith's troubles cost the team a playoff spot in 2014 when he missed the first nine games of the season. San Francisco got off to a 5-4 start, but the team lost four in a row down the stretch and missed the postseason. Imagine a world where Smith wasn't suspended last year: The 49ers make the postseason again, and maybe Jim Harbaugh stays another season to help Kaepernick turn the corner.
None of that matters now. The San Francisco organization has moved on from Aldon Smith, and the team is better off for it. Smith may never play in the NFL again depending on how he handles this latest suspension. The 49ers have a new up-and-coming sack specialist in Aaron Lynch, and he doesn't live life recklessly off the field like Smith.
As San Francisco prepares to face the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in the Pacific Northwest, the team can breathe easier knowing it doesn't have to handle the Smith drama anymore. The 49ers made the right choice in releasing the talented albeit troubled sack master before the season began. Smith is now some other team's problem, and everyone only can hope he gets the help he needs in order to avoid more frightening public behavior that endangers all those around him.
Sam McPherson is a freelance writer covering baseball, football, basketball, golf, hockey and fantasy sports for CBS, AXS and Examiner. He also is an Ironman triathlete and certified triathlon coach.
