Mike Nolan Comments on 49ers' Decision to Draft Alex Smith over Aaron Rodgers

While Alex Smith has developed into a Pro Bowl quarterback, that wasn't always the case. For the early part of his career, Smith was a bust, with San Francisco 49ers fans despondently looking on as Aaron Rodgers soared to greatness in Green Bay.

More than a decade after the decision to take Smith over Rodgers at No. 1, then-49ers coach Mike Nolan offered insight into the team's thinking during an appearance on NFL HQ (h/t Conor Orr of NFL.com):

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The other thing as Alex at the time was a good kid—a very good person, a safe choice, always trying to please. On the other hand, Aaron was very cocky, very confident, arrogant. So you can say, "Why didn't you take him to begin with?" Because that's really what your best quarterbacks look like. They aren't very pleasing. They aren't very safe.

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The decision wasn't exactly controversial at the time. Smith was coming off a remarkable season at Utah, while Rodgers was pegged by some as a "system" quarterback. Jeff Tedford, his mentor at Cal, was also key in the development of draft busts like Akili Smith, Joey Harrington and David Carr.

Nolan said the 49ers were concerned about Rodgers' throwing motion, per Orr:

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Basically, we thought in the long term that Alex Smith would be the better choice than Aaron. It was one of those, maybe, paralysis by analysis. We had so much time to think about it.

We put a lot of stock in changing Aaron's throwing style. We also got caught up a little bit in that Alex was so mobile. That was a good thing. But in the end, we felt Alex would be the better long-time guy. Obviously, we were wrong in that thought process.

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This is a situation where a lot more blame has been heaped on Nolan and the 49ers than was deserved. If you were to redraft the 2005 class, Rodgers would now go No. 1 every time. He's going to go down as one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history.

But it wasn't like Rodgers went second. He fell all the way to No. 24 and into a situation where he could sit for three full seasons behind Brett Favre to develop.

Smith, meanwhile, was taking a pounding behind a terrible offensive line and was not afforded a great wide receiver stable or coaching staff.

Rodgers was probably going to be a very good quarterback regardless, but it's hard to tell how much those three years helped him erase the problems Nolan and Co. saw at the time.

Smith began making a career turnaround in 2009 after recovering from a broken bone in his shoulder that cost him all of 2008. He's since found better coaching and plays in a system that accentuates his strengths and hides his weaknesses.

If he had been in that situation all along, this conversation might be going a little differently.

Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter.