Alex Smith Injures Shoulder Again

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Things have gone from bad to worse for San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith. Not only did he not win the starting QB job he was expected to win this preseason. But he just re-injured his surgically repaired right shoulder this week and is doubtful for tomorrow’s game against the Arizona Cardinals. That means Shaun Hill will be the back-up to starter J.T. O’Sullivan and Michael Robinson would be the emergency quarterback. It was a non-contact injury but there are no other details at this time. Head coach Mike Nolan said:

“Yesterday Alex Smith sustained a non-contact injury to his surgically repaired right shoulder. He will be consulting with his surgeon in Birmingham for treatment recommendations. At this time there are no specifics to the injury or a timetable.”

This re-injury has some people believing Alex may have thrown his last pass for the Niners. I’m not sure I would go to that extreme just yet, but his history with this shoulder isn’t good. If you’ll recall, Alex suffered a Grade 3 shoulder separation in Week 4 last season. He returned to the starting lineup four weeks later but was ineffective and placed on IR following a bad loss to the Seahawks. Dr. James Andrews repaired the shoulder in December and Alex is consulting with him again about the current injury.

Source: SacBee.com