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Jim Harbaugh Dismisses Frank Gore Whispers, Says QB Situation Still Fluid

San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh was on conference call this afternoon with Bay Area media. Naturally, one of the first topics that came up was the status of contract negotiations with free agent tailback Frank Gore, which have reportedly been tensing up. Eric Branch of Niner Insider for the San Francisco Chornicle has more.

Q: There have been a couple of national reports that Frank Gore is unhappy with his contract extension/negotiations. One suggested he might even go for a trade. Has he approached you? Do you sense that unhappiness in him?

JH: No, I don't sense unhappiness in Frank.

Q: Has there been any contract talk with him recently?

JH: Even the things that you just alluded to -- reports, conversations, talking points, things you're asking me right now. It all is and sounds like water-cooler talk to me right now and I'm just not interested in it, in the water-cooler talk.

Now to be fair, the Niners have gone through a round of these rumors before, and Gore did eventually come back to San Francisco to start negotiations. So it might mean positive developments are on the horizon before it ever gets to trading. It could also be the Gore camp leaking information to try and accelerate discussion on the issue, a common tactic to try and leverage value in negotiations.

When it comes to quarterbacks? Things are still as murky as ever.

How he approaches naming his starting QB for Week 1: "Week by week."

So Alex Smith has gone from being the big favorite to entering holding patterns with Colin Kaepernick and Josh McNown. Things can only look up from here.

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