Torrey Smith isn't buying the bad-fit label being branded on his trade to the San Francisco 49ers to catch passes from Colin Kaepernick.
The Sacramento Bee reported that Smith, the former Baltimore Ravens deep threat who signed with the 49ers in the offseason as a free agent, actually had the rumors of a possible Kaepernick trade investigated before he signed with the team.
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"That's not going to happen," Smith said of the quarterback being traded, the Sacramento Bee reported. "All that speculation stuff -- it doesn't have anything behind it."
General manager Trent Baalke also was quick to shoot down the report, calling it "ridiculous."
But Smith didn't just take Baalke's word for it.
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"Asked my agent, 'Hey, is there any truth to that?' and also asked Kaepernick himself, 'Hey, man, is everything good?'" Smith said.
Smith said he called free agent quarterback Tyrod Taylor, a teammate with the Ravens who is working out in Phoenix with Kaepernick, and asked him to find out from Kaepernick what the situation was.
Smith caught 49 passes for 767 yards with 11 touchdowns last season with the Ravens for a 15.7 yards-per-catch average.
When the 49ers showed interest in signing Smith, profootballtalk.nbcsports.com speculated that because Kaepernick's weakness has been throwing the ball deep down field, he still could be on the trading block.
Smith said he first noticed Kaepernick when his Maryland Terrapins played Kaepernick's Nevada Wolf Pack in the 2008 Humanitarian Bowl.
"I watched him since then, and I knew he was a ball player," said Smith, who also trained with Kaepernick in Miami last offseason. "He's a great player. I'm comfortable with him. He has a strong arm and I can run. That's a good combination there."
As far as being a fit, Smith says not to overlook his other skills as a wideout.
"I can do a little bit of everything," he told 49ers.com. "I'm always going to be known as a deep threat. I get that label because I can do it. I look at it like (Golden State Warriors point guard) Steph Curry; he's great at shooting threes. That doesn't mean he can't do a layup or have a mid-range. That's just how all people are going to think of him, as a great shooter, but he's an overall great player. I feel like I can do a little bit of everything and it's allowed me to continue to grow and work, which I still need to do."
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