By: Tim Furious (BetUs.com) –

Well it seems the expected tag team of Brandon Marshall and Ted Ginn Jr. is a pairing that will only live on paper. The former Ohio State Buckeyes standout has been traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a fifth round pick. For the record, that was about the value that the Pittsburgh Steelers got in exchange for Santonio Holmes. Both guys have first option talent, and for Ted Ginn Jr. a fresh start will most likely a desired fallout from the Marshall signing.

The move should’ve been expected for the Miami Dolphins, who gave up two second rounders to get Marshall. Without Ginn, the Miami offense remains improved as the roles for Devon Bess and Greg Camarillo will likely increase. Miami needs draft picks despite being fully loaded on offense and fairly young. Waiting with baited breath is Ronnie Brown, who has been on the trading block since the end of the season.

For the 49ers, however, the move to acquire Ginn Jr. speaks volumes about the franchise’s faith in Alex Smith. A young team on the rise wouldn’t spend any type of draft pick for a player if they didn’t think he’d have immediate value. It’s a bold move for a young franchise to say the least.

Ted Ginn Jr. is considered by many to be a huge draft bust. After being taken ninth overall in the 2007 NFL Draft, Ginn managed just 128 receptions, 1,664 yards and 5 touchdowns in three full seasons for the Dolphins. To put how bad that is in perspective, Marshall had 101 receptions for 1,120 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2009 alone.

Hope isn’t lost for Ginn however. His true talent remains as a game breaking deep threat, and he has tremendous value as a kick returner as well. He won a game single handedly by returning too kicks for 100+ yards against the Jets last season.

What this says about the Niners is pure and simple – they think that the NFC West title is up for grabs, and it’d be hard to refute those claims. Even with Sam Bradford, the St. Louis Rams are still a ways off from being a legitimate contender. The Seattle Seahawks are going through massive overhauls, especially with new head coach Pete Carroll taking over the team. That leaves the Arizona Cardinals, who have long stood as the benchmark for the division. The Cardinals are a team that will undoubtedly have growing pains without Kurt Warner, Anquan Boldin, Antonio Cromartie and a slew of other stalwarts who are bolting the desert.

I’ve touted for quite some time that the Niners have patiently positioned themselves to take over the NFC West as soon as the Cardinals regime began to disintegrate. It seems that they think their time is now.

Much of that has to do with Alex Smith, the incumbent quarterback, who blew up at the end of last season to restore lost faith in his stock. Smith finished last season with 2,350 yards and 18 touchdowns, notching his best quarterback rating in a troubled career at 81.5 in eleven games.

The pieces are in place for San Francisco to finally make a return run at glory. Michael Crabtree virtually fell in to their laps last year (way to go, Oakland) and Vernon Davis is finally living up to his potential. Crabtree, Davis and Ginn form a formidable trio of receivers that can cause matchup problems for a paltry secondary class in the NFC West. Think what you will of Ginn, but the Niners have managed to get the bad attitude of Davis under control, and turned Crabtree in to a deadly threat as a rookie. They can fix Ginn. They have to at this point……

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