The San Francisco 49ers have a bright future with current QB Brock Purdy, but it took them decades to find a proper franchise QB. The juxtaposition of Purdy being a “Mr. Irrelevant” only makes the comparison to former No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith all the more interesting.

Smith joined the 49ers as the first pick in the 2005 NFL draft and was expected to be the team’s next great QB. It didn’t work out that way, and Smith is now talking openly about how much of a struggle it was.

“And all of a sudden to be the No. 1 pick — and as a 20 year old — those were things I never dealt with. I had one college scholarship offer. I had been flying under the radar my entire life. Now, all of a sudden. [there were] huge expectations put upon me. It was a lot,” Smith said in a May 16 interview with NBC Sports Bay Area. “I felt like I had to be perfect. As anybody can imagine, you try to do anything let alone play quarterback as a rookie, that’s certainly a recipe for disaster.”