It's hard to say as to what would happen if the 49ers had taken Aaron Rodgers out of Cal with the #1 overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. Rodgers is now headed to the Super Bowl as a Green Bay Packer, and Alex Smith, who the 49ers ended up drafting, is at home on his couch hoping to have a job next season. Hindsight is 20/20.
This topic has been up to much debate since Rodgers and the Packers punched their ticket to Super Bowl XLV. If the 49ers had drafted Rodgers, what would have happened? If Alex Smith was a Packer, what would have happened?
Rodgers may have been the smart pick by the 49ers because he was from a pro-style offense at Cal, while Smith was exclusively in the spread offense at Utah with next to no competition to play against. Smith was book-smart and Rodgers had an attitude. That means nothing now.
Rodgers was able to learn behind Favre, which is the reason for his success. Smith was able to learn behind...Tim Rattay and Ken Dorsey? That is where the two players' careers differ.
I am not saying if Smith was on the Packers they would be heading to the Super Bowl. Never. And I'm not saying if Rodgers was on the 49ers they would be heading to the Super Bowl. Get real. Neither would be.
Smith would be better than he is today because he would have had the tutelage of Favre, and Rodgers would have fit much better in the 49er system than Smith did, yet not as good as he is today because he would have been thrown into the fire that is the NFL when he was not ready, just like Smith was.
If the draft had gone that way, neither would be in the Super Bowl and neither team would have been any good, although in the weak NFC West I would think that with Rodgers the 49ers would have won their division this year only by default.
I would predict the two quarterbacks to have similar success today if the two players had been drafted differently. The 49ers would be winning maybe a couple more games, and the Packers losing a couple more games.
All that can be said is that when Rodgers was sitting there on draft day waiting to be drafted for what seemed like forever, it payed off, because now he is headed to the Super Bowl. And the quarterback that was taken well ahead of him and received more recognition and more money for going #1 overall that day may be looking for a job soon. It's funny how things turn out.
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