At a news conference to introduce the No. 1 pick of the 2005 draft, 49ers Coach Mike Nolan opened with a few questions of his own.
“How many in this room thought we were going to take Braylon Edwards?” he asked.
“And how many thought Aaron Rodgers?”
“And how many thought Alex Smith?”
Nolan was just having fun. The only vote in the room that mattered was the 49ers’ and they selected Smith as their franchise quarterback.
Three years later, can we get another show of hands?
Each passing week – that is, each poor passing week – raises the possibility that the 49ers made a $24 million mistake. Sunday’s debacle against the Atlanta Falcons leaves Smith with 19 touchdown passes against 31 interceptions. He has reached 200 passing yards just six times in 29 career starts.
Smith has been hampered by injuries, a suspect offensive line, overmatched receivers and revolving offensive coordinators (three in three seasons). But that can’t explain away everything. As Nolan, a Smith supporter, said Monday: “It’s getting down to an execution factor. I think Alex recognizes that.”
The No. 1 spot is supposed to be where John Elway, Troy Aikman, Peyton Manning and Carson Palmer come from, not players whose 57.6 passer rating ranks last this season among qualifying quarterbacks.
There is still time, of course, for Smith to prove worthy. He is just 23, which makes him among the youngest quarterbacks in the NFL. And it is still so soon after draft day that another potential No. 1 – Rodgers, the former Cal standout – has yet to make even one career start.
But going back to that franchise-altering day of April 23, ’05, would Smith still be the top choice?
That famously dicey draft had no clear-cut No. 1, which meant the top choice was virtually untradeable. The top 10 alone has already yielded two epic busts: cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones (No. 6), whose behavior got him suspended from the NFL, and Mike Williams (No. 10), who is out of work after being cut by the Raiders.
Other players have been haunted by injuries, including running backs Carnell “Cadillac” Williams and Ronnie Brown and linebacker David Pollack. With help from our 20-20 Hindsight Crystal Ball (and several national football writers), we’ve revisited the 2005 draft to reconstruct the top 10.
First, some ground rules: The choices were limited to the players actually chosen in the top 25 in 2005. No one could fairly argue that a G.M. would have been courageous enough to use the No. 1 pick on, say, risky Frank Gore (the 49ers got him in the third round) or unheralded Derek Anderson (sixth round), the red-hot quarterback now with the Cleveland Browns.
Our pool of candidates runs 25 players deep because Rodgers (24th overall) was a 49ers finalist that year; that means any player within Rodgers’ range should also be considered a potential No. 1.
With that, we’re on the time machine . . .
1. T Jammal Brown, Oklahoma (originally No. 13): Few commodities are as valuable as a stalwart left tackle, and Brown has all the makings of a mainstay for the New Orleans Saints. He made the transition from right to left last season and promptly made the Associated Press All-Pro team and started in the Pro Bowl. The 6-foot-6, 310-pounder has anchored a line that has allowed just five sacks this season, fewest in the NFL.
2. LB Shawne Merriman, Maryland (No. 12): Earned defensive rookie of the year honors with the San Diego Chargers, then followed that up with an NFL-high 17 sacks last year. He has made the Pro Bowl in each of his first two seasons. Merriman would rank No. 1 if not for the four-game suspension he earned by testing positive for a banned substance. Merriman’s lawyer, David Cornwell, said Merriman unwittingly ingested nandrolone, which was present in one of his supplements.
3. LB DeMarcus Ware, Troy. (No. 11): Earned his first Pro Bowl start last season after registering 11 1/2 sacks, a Dallas Cowboys record for linebackers. He is also the first player in team history to have (or share) the team sackslead in each of his first two seasons. In all, he has 26 1/2 sacks and nine forced fumbles in 40 career games.
4. WR Braylon Edwards, Michigan (No. 3): While the 49ers struggle for every offensive yard, Edwards racks up huge totals for the Browns on a weekly basis. His 736 receiving yards trail only Randy Moss, Chad Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald this season. Edwards is a big-play threat (17.5-yard average) who racked up 146 yards and two TDs in Week 2. The highest total by a 49ers receiver this year is 77 yards by tight end Vernon Davis.
5. LB Derrick Johnson, Texas (No. 15): Has quickly matured into one of the Kansas City Chiefs’ most consistent defensive players. Johnson’s sideline-to-sideline speed helped him rack up 110 tackles in ’05, according to the Chiefs. That’s the most by a Kansas City rookie linebacker since Dino Hackett (140) in 1986.
6. RB Ronnie Brown, Auburn (No. 2): Before going on the injured-reserve list Oct. 23, the running back had emerged as the dual threat the Miami Dolphins envisioned. Brown led the NFL with 991 yards from scrimmage – a total that still leads the AFC. Playing for a woeful, winless team, Brown nevertheless managed four consecutive 100-yard rushing games, one short of Ricky Williams’ team record.
6. QB Jason Campbell, Auburn (No. 25): With Smith struggling and Rodgers stalled behind Brett Favre, Campbell has emerged as the most productive quarterback from 2005’s first round. He trails Smith in TD passes (19 to 16) but has less than half his interceptions (31 to 13). Campbell has held up well this season against a tough schedule.
8. CB Carlos Rogers, Auburn (No. 9): Like so many others from the ’05 first round, Rogers has struggled with injuries. But he demonstrated excellent cover skills last season in leading the Washington Redskins with 17 pass deflections and finishing among the team leaders with 79 tackles (67 solo). Rogers is out for the season because of a torn ACL and MCL.
9. Cadillac Williams, Auburn (No. 5): The 2005 offensive rookie of the year had six 100-yard games in his first season with Tampa Bay. But he is out for the remainder of this season after suffering a knee injury Sept. 30. When healthy, Williams is an elusive runner who relishes the workhorse role.
10. WR Mark Clayton, Oklahoma (No. 22): Trapped in an inept Baltimore offense, the dynamic playmaker nonetheless managed 939 yards receiving and five touchdowns last season. A year earlier, he set Ravens rookie records with 44 catches for 471 yards.
Contact Daniel Brown at dbrown@mercurynews.com
