Following the San Francisco 49ers bye week, the team was presented with two predicaments that will most certainly change the course of the season. The first, was Jeff Ulbrich opting to have surgery on a torn bicep muscle. The starting linebacker was considering playing through the 43 Polamalu black jersey
pain but could not receive any support from doctors or other players for doing so. Eventually he decided his future career was more important than this one season. He was right in doing so, but given San Francisco's pre-existing linebacking predicament things have really gotten complicated in 49ers land.The San Francisco 49ers linebacking corps has been battling injuries all season. Besides Ulbrich, linebacker Julian Peterson has also been playing injured. When you consider those two injuries along with the trading of Jamie Winborn just a few weeks ago, it was easy to see that the 49ers were becoming quite thin at linebacker. With Ulbrich out, Saleem Rasheed was supposed to enter the starting line-up, but he went down with an injury in practice this week. Suddenly the 49ers are far thinner at linebacker than they would have ever imagined at the start of the season, but enough about predicament #1.Most recently, the San Francisco 49ers traded former starting quarterback Tim Rattay to the Buccaneers for a conditional draft pick. This move should have come in the off-season when the team could have fetched a veteran QB who could have mentored first round pick Alex Smith – or at the very least, a better deal for Rattay. Nevertheless, the move is a good one, and a step in the direction for rookie head coach Mike Nolan.Trading Rattay solidifies Alex Smith as the starting QB for this team for the rest of the season. It will give Smith confidence in knowing Nolan does not have him on 4 Brett Favre White jersey
a short leash. Of course it will also allow Smith to grow from being on the field and learning the game. Meanwhile the team still has quarterback Ken Dorsey and Cody Pickett to fill out the roster. Dorsey has been working at helping Smith adjust to the offense, whereas Pickett has been used in different capacities – contributing on special teams. So maybe this second predicament isn't so bad after all.
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