Former 49ers coach Mike Nolan said the decision was made to go with the safe pick in quarterback Alex Smith over “cocky” and “arrogant” Aaron Rodgers with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft.
Nolan revisited the thinking of the 49ers’ decision-makers, including general manager Scot McCloughan, during a guest appearance Tuesday morning on the NFL Network.
“Basically, we thought in the long term that Alex Smith would be the better choice than Aaron,” Nolan said. “It was one of those, maybe, paralysis by analysis. We had so much time to think about it.