Da Bears

[Russ Smith]

He wasn’t nearly as robotic looking as he was in college. He wasn’t a stiff but 3 years later his body and arm were completely transformed. Plus he knew the playbook. These days 21 year old are being thrown into the fire right away for bad teams.

He would’ve had some great weapons here for sure.

Agreed on that but then that was apparently his rep coming outof HS, very small and very reckless, took too many chances. his JC coach sort of turned him loose and he grew just enough that 1 year in JC that Cal took him. Tedford "refined" his game but didn't take away his ability to scramble and make plays out of nothing. I've seen him so many times on camera say I would not be in the NFL if not for Jeff Tedford. Tedford certainly had his issues and it didn't end well at Cal, but I think people blame him sometimes for QB's that really only got picked that high because Tedford made them look better than they were. Dilfer was never that good, game manager at best, Boller had great physical tools but no idea how to play the position, Tedford found ways to make them all look better than they actually were in college.

There's a ton of articles on it but his rise was amazing. he was 5'10" 165 pounds when he graduated HS, his year at Butte JC he not only wasn't highly touted, most of the team didn't even really know who he was, many thought he shouldn't have been the starter. He only got seen because Cal was recruiting a TE and in watching film they noticed Rodgers, and then watching the TE in person they saw Rodgers in person and fell in love with him. Just an incredible outlier story.



It is scary to think that guy coming in with us already having Fitz and Boldin on the roster. Obviously Kurt gave us a few unbelievable years, hard to complain about those.

The guy I was touting the most for us that year was LB Derrick Johnson who had a very good NFL career, Rodgers was in my next group I knew he was underrated but not THAT much. Rolle was a good player but I never thought he was a CB so it always to me seemed too early to pick him. Even DeMarcus Ware would have been a better pick but clearly Rodgers was the best player in that draft.

 

[Russ Smith]

What baffled me about the 2005 draft, and the Aaron Rodgers vs Alex Smith debate, was that if they were SO close in talent and SO hard to choose between, how could you NOT lean towards Rodgers, given that he was coming out of a pro-style offense, while Smith was coming from a shotgun-only, VERY collegiate system? Seems like a no-brainer at that point - go with the guy with the experience relevant to the next level. Yet the 49ers chose Smith, and everybody else yawned until the Packers pick. Smith became a decent QB but it took a LONG time.

As for Cards destiny had they drafted Rodgers - who knows what he may have evolved into here? Although with Denny Green coming onboard the next year, he probably would have done just fine.

It really came down to what Gator said, people were scared of Tedford QB's because he had a history of making guys look better than they were. Smith was considered to be the better athlete which I think is disputable, they can both run. Smith has a strong arm but it never materialized in games the way it did for Rodgers. Smith has become a very solid NFL QB but Rodgers just on a whole other level.

I watched every game he played at Cal, I had no idea he'd be THIS good, but I couldn't understand why anybody liked Smith better, just seemed like they felt his ceiling was higher, largely because they underrated Rodgers because of the Tedford angle.

The guy I was touting the most in that draft for us was Derrick Johnson, who I still think would have been a better pick than Rolle.

Green made that pick btw he was already here and running the drafts. He drafted really well overall.