San Francisco 49ers: 10 biggest ‘what ifs?’ in NFL Draft history

No. 4: What if 49ers took Aaron Rodgers instead of Alex Smith?

Perhaps the most overplayed “what if?” in 49ers history dates back to 2005 when the Niners held the No. 1 overall pick in that year’s NFL Draft.

First-year head coach Mike Nolan, also acting as general manager, elected to go with Utah quarterback Alex Smith instead of the local favorite, Cal quarterback Aaron Rodgers, for whatever reasons. Perhaps Nolan thought Rodgers was too cocky.

Whatever. It’s in the past.

Rodgers slipped, of course, to the Green Bay Packers. And he went on to have a Hall of Fame-caliber career and will likely be viewed as one of the top 15 quarterbacks all time.

Smith, too, had a productive career, albeit one nowhere close to what Rodgers enjoyed.

This is where a drafted player’s context comes into play (remember that from earlier?). The what-if argument isn’t about whether or not Rodgers would have been better for San Francisco than Smith. He would have.

Instead, the “what if?” centers more around how Rodgers would have developed if Nolan had selected him instead of Smith. Remember, the 49ers weren’t exactly in a great situation at the time, coming off a two-win season and entering the early phases of a complete team rebuild that would take five-plus years, cost Nolan his job and ultimately destroy the early part of Smith’s career before he finally started to find success in 2011.

A would-be Niners team with Rodgers at the helm likely would have won a few more games, yes. But it’s much more likely Rodgers would never go on to become the player he turned out to be.