San Francisco 49ers: 10 worst quarterbacks in franchise history
By Bobby Horne
Niner Noise takes a look at 10 of the San Francisco 49ers worst quarterbacks in franchise history, the names you’d rather forget.
The San Francisco 49ers have had some bad quarterbacks throughout its history. Not everyone is a Hall of Famer like Joe Montana or a Steve Young, and finding those types of QBs is no easy task. The players on this list prove that.
A bad quarterback can set a team back years and, in the case of the 49ers, put them into a decade of losing.
Without further delay, let’s take a look at 10 of the worst quarterbacks in franchise history.
No. 10: 49ers quarterback Alex Smith — 2005-2012
Yes, Alex Smith is one of the worst quarterbacks in Niners team history.
Let that sink in for a bit.
Think about it, Smith was taken as the first overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. He was coming in to be the next great QB for a storied franchise that was used to one thing: winning.
Smith was notably taken over Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, an eventual Pro Football Hall of Famer. Coming out of Cal, many expected San Francisco to take the local kid over Smith. However, the 49ers selected Smith instead, hoping he could continue the tradition of winning with the Niners.
As a No. 1 overall pick, you can imagine the expectations the franchise put on Smith. In his seven seasons with San Francisco, he only managed to play in all 16 games twice and only threw for over 2,500 yards twice.
Do you think he met those expectations? Not a chance. Even the success he enjoyed in 2011 and for the early part of 2012 can’t erase what happened between 2005 and 2010.
The 49ers traded Smith to the Kansas City Chiefs prior to the 2013 season where he resurrected his career before going on to Washington and eventually retiring in 2021.
However, as a Niner, he absolutely deserves to be on this list.