When Alex Smith was drafted No. 1 overall by the 49ers in the 2005 NFL Draft, he was expected to turn the franchise around.
While Smith did guide the 49ers to the playoffs in 2011, he wasn't the savior they were expecting.
From 2005 through 2010, the Utah product went 19-31 in San Francisco, and missed the 2008 season due to a shoulder injury.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Following the 2012 season, with Colin Kaepernick serving as the 49ers' quarterback, the team traded Smith to the Kansas City Chiefs, ending his less-than-spectacular tenure in San Francisco.
In a new ESPN documentary chronicling Smith's rehab following a compound fracture of his right leg in 2018 while with Washington, his draft selection was brought up.
"It was just absolutely wild," Smith said. "I still feel like it's pretty surreal thinking back to that."
The 49ers famously picked Smith over standout Cal Bears quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and the ensuing pressure might have been too much.
San Francisco 49ers
"It's a lot to handle both physically and mentally," Smith said. "All of a sudden, a couple hours later, I'm on a plane to San Francisco. I remember being in that first minicamp, out there in stretch lines, and there's like a 100 journalists and photographers out there taking pictures of you stretching."
That first season, Smith started seven games and played in nine total. He completed 84 of 165 passes for 875 yards and just one touchdown, while throwing 11 interceptions. Not exactly the best start to a career for the No. 1 overall pick.
[RELATED: Tracing Smith trade to Jimmy G]
"You take a deep breath for sure, and the perspective is, this is great, this is wonderful," Alex's dad Doug Smith said. "But being the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft means you go to the worst team. That puts all that pressure on you, too."
Smith hasn't played since suffering the horrific injury on Nov. 18, 2018. It's unclear if he will ever play in the NFL again, but he's still under contract with Washington and is progressing in his rehab.