You're right, the best way to handle Smith initially would have been to let him sit for a season, at least, and learn, rather than throwing him in the deep end right away. Clearly he's the kind of player who isn't comfortable if he doesn't know the system well, which is why we saw so many late throws and unnecessary timeouts.

Nonetheless, that doesn't make much sense at this stage. If Smith was benched in favor of a quality veteran, I'd say it makes sense. Benching him in favor of a scrub who's been cut by eight teams sends a message of "no confidence." I think Nolan has given up on Smith and is telling Martz to start someone else.

---------------------------------------------------------