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Big QB splash from 49ers? Harbaugh merely dipped toe in 2011

“We want Carr! We want Carr!”

That was the backdrop to Jim Harbaugh’s arrival with the 49ers in 2011. Harbaugh was a former quarterback, had an eye for quarterbacks, and if one thing was certain, it was that the squad he took over that year needed a new starting quarterback.

Incumbent Alex Smith not only was scheduled to become a free agent in a couple of months, the former No. 1 overall pick had underwhelmed to the point that frustrated fans preferred his backup, David Carr, and famously chanted Carr’s name during a nationally televised game in 2010.