SANTA CLARA – There was Jake Delhomme in New Orleans, Brad Johnson in Minnesota, Jon Kitna in Detroit and Shaun Hill in San Francisco.
Everywhere J.T. O'Sull-ivan has been over a meandering, six-year career, the same lesson has been right in front of his eyes: Becoming a starting quarterback in the NFL often is a difficult and circuitous process.
"I looked at other people's careers in the league," O'Sullivan said Saturday, one day after he was named the 49ers' starter. "When you're sitting at home, you have no other choice. You look at other people's paths in this league and in this position and there's not a whole lot of smooth stories. There just isn't."
What O'Sullivan also learned is that NFL decision makers weren't always right. When he was told he wasn't good enough to make a team, he accepted the decision, but he didn't believe the explanation.
"At the surface, you have to say flat out, 'I don't agree with your opinion,' " he said. "Really, it's what it comes down to. I just flat out always thought that I could play. I didn't waver when one GM or one personnel guy or one coach told me that I wasn't good enough for that team. Well, all right. That's your opinion. That's all it is."
It's the sort of gritty resolve that the player O'Sullivan beat out for the starting job, Alex Smith, must now develop.
Smith certainly studied and worked as hard as any quarterback in his first three years in the league. But as the former No. 1 overall pick, his status as a starter was assured until this season.
From now on, Smith will have to fight for a starring role.
Smith likely will remain with team this season because the 49ers need a capable backup and because no other team would be willing to absorb Smith's hefty salary.
"Haven't even thought about that," Smith said Saturday. "It's not even in my thinking right now. Don't know if it would come to that. Right now, I'm thinking about my role and what I need to do."
Unless Smith plays extensively this season, however, it's a near certainty he will be gone in 2009. He'll want a chance to compete for a starting job and, more to the point, if he isn't released he is scheduled to earn a base salary of $9.625 million in 2009.
Smith rejected the notion that he wasn't given a fair shot this offseason. Toward the end of the competition, Smith received almost no work with the first-team offense. But he said he still was receiving plenty of practice repetitions.
He also didn't blame himself.
"I came to work prepared," he said. "I felt like I put a lot into this, studied more than I've ever studied in getting into this playbook and really try to understand it. I don't know if I have any regrets. I felt like I pushed myself as hard as I could."
Read Matthew Barrows' blog at www.sacbee.com/ ninersblog.
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