Number 7
The 49ers 2005 Draft
Alex (bleepin') Smith???????
Shortly after USC hoisted its second consecutive national championship in January 2005, rumors aplenty surfaced about head coach Pete Carroll’s potential reentry to the NFL coaching circuit. After all, he was hotter than the sun’s surface after the blowout victory over Oklahoma.
So was his playboy quarterback, Matt Leinart, who was projected as the first pick in the Draft.
And who was waiting atop the Draft board, you ask? My beloved team from the left coast, the San Francisco 49ers.
This was supposed to be the magical elixir which would rejuvenate the Niners, whose 2-14 record should’ve had an asterisk attached because the team they beat was the Cardinals. I remember watching, at Kate and Willy’s no less, the 49ers get their first win after a rapid comeback culminated with an overtime win. It was a my lone joyous moment in a season of horrors.
Still, for all my trials and tribulations, my reward was the No. 1 overall pick; the promise of better days, in a sense.
So there it was all lined up like ducksin a row. Carroll would leave USC to become the newest head coach in San Fran, all the while bringing with him offensive coordinator Norm Chow and some of USC’s brilliant staff. They, in turn, would draft Leinart and all would be right in 49ers land. Except for one minor detail.
I had to open my mouth.
Now this was not a traditional prediction in the sense that I said all of the above would go down, but I did think it. I also told people I thought that it would happen, and therein lays my downfall.
Once I said it, the dominos came down one after the other. Carroll said he’d stay to run the most dominant college football program in a decade. Leinart passed up the chance to be the first pick in the draft to learn ballroom dancing (and there was that whole thing where he wanted to win another Heisman and championship, but we know he just wanted to hang out with Nick Lachey). And once those two stayed who cared about Chow.
Instead, I got Mike Nolan – whom I do like as a coach (Oh wait, did I just add another number to this countdown?) – and Utah’s Alex Smith, who ran a so-called complex offense. How complex and effective could it be if the Hofstra football team just got rid of it?
Well Smith threw one touchdown last year, which made me happy. His 11 interceptions, however, didn’t exactly tickle my pickle. He’s a work/bust in progress, but the jury’s still out.
Still, I’ll always what could’ve been if the USC trio had taken its show up the Pacific Coast highway to the Bay Area. Me and my big mouth.
The Curse Top 10
