I don’t think Alex would have made it to Green Bay had we not picked him, I’ve heard numerous comments from other teams that had early picks in that draft who were high on Smith and would have taken him. I think for instance Miami said if we didn’t pick him they most surely would have.
That said, who knows how Alex would have turned out if the drafts picks had been rearranged. Would he have been able to put it together under the direction of Favre, I honestly don’t know. There are so many unanswered questions about Alex it is hard to say.

It has certainly helped him to be behind Favre for the past few seasons, but I still think he’d have been a better QB than Smith for the 49ers. Just a gut feeling, though.

Just curious what you being a Cal fan and David Carr have to do with each other? He played for Fresno State, and looked much more impressive and ready for the NFL than Smith.

for a kid from Chico!

If Rodgers were taken by, say, the Dolphins…

He wouldn’t be where he is today.

Who is the better quarterback, Aaron Rodgers or Howtheyscored? Sure, Rodgers played QB in college and probably high school, and he had three years to sit behind Brett Favre, learning an offensive system, and had a reasonably competent offense in place around him.

But Howtheyscored is sort of an adult, he’s somewhere in his early 20’s (I think), never played a professional snap of football in the NFL, and probably didn’t play in college either.

Sure, on the surface, you’d have to say that Rodgers is the better quarterback. But I’m putting my money on Howtheyscored. Of course, since Howie doesn’t play football professionally, and the circumstances of his playing career are completely different from that of Rodgers, we’ll never know, will we? But right now, I’ll bet a lot of teams are kicking themselves for not drafting Howie when they had the chance.

Can we please stop this BS about A-Rod being the greatest quarterback ever? It’s one frickin’ game! His career record is now 1-0. That’s one more win for his career so far than Howie has, and he has the exact same number of losses.

We can argue over Smith vs. Rodgers ad infinitum. And it looks like we very well might… especially if this shoulder injury effectively ends Smith’s career and Rodgers goes on to even a modicum of NFL success. But if you look at the poll results, the vast majority of people here seem to think that neither was the correct answer.

If I recall correctly, at the time of the draft, the Niners were trying to trade the top pick… but no one wanted it. It was the organization’s bad luck to get the top pick in the draft the one year where there was no surefire answer. A year earlier and we’d have Eli Manning… a year later and we could have chosen Reggie Bush, Mario Williams, or the QB du jour.

I’ve never really understood the need to draft a franchise QB with the number one pick. Generally, if you’re that bad, you have so many needs that QB really can’t be your focus. I’d much rather use my top pick that year on some sort of defensive or offensive line impact player, and then try to pick up a QB in the middle of the first round the next year.

If picked by the 49ers, Rodgers would have been thrown into the fire just like Smith was. Like Smith, he’d probably be considerably banged up by now.

You can put a tutu and lipstick on Alex Smith and make him ride a unicycle, or make Aaron Rodgers juggle flaming bowling pins and jump through hoola-hoops. Either way, they would have both been employed by a traveling circus. It would all have been the same.

The 49er’s brass owes Alex a public apology and I hate to say it, but I’m glad he’s still going to make money on this situation. It’s the least the York’s could do for screwing up a talented kid’s future.

I’m not a Smith backer. I’m calling it the way I see it based on this topic. Without going back to read the posting, I can see your point. So strike my ‘apology’ comment.

On this national stage, these kids/rookies rely on their team to handle them correctly. Every team has it’s trials, it’s how they accept the responsibility and handle it is what matters. I hope that Smith goes on to a team that can make him a star. Rodgers is very lucky to have an organization that did it on the first try. (So far, McCarthy has to be wiping some sweat off his brow.) And I hope the Niner’s learn from this and take a COLOSSAL step in the right direction. This circus need to turn itself into Cirque. I love success stories and I hope there’s three of them right here.

I liked Rodgers better at the time but I agree that he would have been just as bad given the circumstances. Smith didn’t stand a chance. I also thought at the time that we should draft Braylon and wait to take VY (or Leinart or whoever) the next year. I don’t think you should waste the #1 pick by drafting for need over talent. There were better players in the draft ,and they should have take one of them.

It also bothers me that in the last few years they didn’t take any 2nd or 3rd round QBs – who knows, we might have found a gem. Now we’re back to square 1, and we’ll probably draft another shitty QB in the first round this year and live to regret it.

it wouldn’t have mattered… had Rodgers been drafted we’d still be having the same discussion.