The Hall of Fame Careers of all-time greats’ Joe Montana and Steve Young led the San Francisco 49ers to success throughout the 80’s and 90’s and resulted in a surplus of pressure leading into the 2005 NFL Draft where the 49ers held the 1st overall pick.
Despite a multitude of talent in the draft that year including Ronnie Brown, Cedric Benson, Cadilac Williams, DeMarcus Ware, and Pac-Man Jones, the 49ers faced a pressing need at the QB position, so the only real choice was whether to draft Aaron Rodgers or Alex Smith.
Aaron Rodgers was a childhood 49er fan, not recruited by any major university until getting a chance to play at UC Berkley after one year at Butte Community College. Rodgers lit-up the Division 1 college football scene and was best known for his accuracy and upset win over the #3 team in the nation, USC. Alex Smith held a 21-1 college record and was most notable for running the spread offense to perfection and success in Major Bowl Games like 2005 Fiesta Bowl and 2003 Liberty Bowl. Both quarterbacks were so good, there was even a “you can’t go wrong mentality” similar to this year’s draft with Carson Wentz and Jared Goff.
Flash forward 11 years, and there was clearly a better choice between the 2 quarterbacks. Aaron Rodgers will go down as one of the all-time greats, and Alex Smith had to play his way out of the “bust” label for his early years struggling in San Francisco. As we prepare for this year’s draft next month, the 49ers have a second chance to select their QB of the future and he might be a BART ride away at UC Berkley just like Aaron Rodgers was in 2005.
The 49ers need to be locked in on Jared Goff with laser focus, and do everything in their power to get him on their roster. Ever since Jim Harbaugh “lost the locker room” and left to become the head coach at the University of Michigan, there has been a blood in the water mentality that the 49ers are bleeding from a managerial and personnel standpoint.
If you’re the 49ers at the 7-spot in the 2016 NFL Draft, would you wait until after teams like the Browns, Chargers and Cowboys go to address their team needs or would you trade away picks or players (potentially Colin Kaepernick) to move-up in the draft? If Goff is really the next Aaron Rodgers and if so would you hope for him to fall to 7 or make a play to go get him? These are just a couple questions for the 49ers to consider before this years’ NFL Draft.
Path to the Draft 