:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/8903381/154568062.0.jpg)
This is what the No. 1 overall pick looked like in 2005.
Chris Trotman Getty Images Sport
You get the phone call, knowing you beat out that punk Aaron Rodgers (Sorry, Aaron, it was just for effect. You are not a punk). No. 1 overall pick.
Chris Trotman Getty Images Sport
That was so long ago it was pre-Roger Goodell.
Chris Trotman Getty Images Sport
Look how young he is! He could barely booze at this point. 21 years old.
Chris Trotman Getty Images Sport
Year 1: Turns out, the actual games are, uh, pretty important. And Smith wasn't just bad. He was awful.
Jed Jacobsohn Getty Images Sport
Year 2: 16 TDs, 16 picks. Not great ... but not as bad as the year before! Time for smiles.
Jed Jacobsohn Getty Images Sport
Year 3: Alex Smith is hurt and is rewarded with not having to play for the worst offense in football.
Greg Trott Getty Images Sport
He's replaced by Trent Dilfer ... who, coincidentally (or not), loved the Alex Smith trade.
David Paul MorrisGetty Images Sport
Year 4: Alex Smith is hurt, again, and doesn't play at all. Photographers don't take the time to rotate his pictures anymore.
Jed Jacobsohn Getty Images Sport
Year 5: He starts, is not totally awful, and they begin to notice him again.
Ezra Shaw Getty Images Sport
Year 6: "We want Carr. We want Carr!" Yes, that's David Carr. Says it all, no?
NBC Sports, Gregg Rosenthal: "It was the lowest moment of Alex Smith's seven-year career in San Francisco, Oct. 12, 2010. The winless 49ers hosted the Eagles on Sunday Night Football, and the crowd was looking for blood.
"After his fourth-quarter fumble, thunderous boos poured down on Smith. He was hearing it all game from the crowd, but this matched anything I've ever heard - even in Philadelphia. The unmistakable chant that came with the booing was even more depressing.
""We want Carr. We want Carr!"
"The home crowd wanted Smith benched in favor of backup quarterback David Carr. The fan base collectively waved the white flag. They were tired of their No. 1 overall pick bust and wanted to try another. It was only Week 5 of a rapidly devolving season."
Jed Jacobsohn Getty Images Sport
Year 7: Hello there, Jimmy. True love is born.
Thearon W. Henderson Getty Images Sport
Year 8: Alex Smith suffers a concussion in Week 10. He never returns thanks to a new football device called a Colin Kaepernick.
Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
They were complete opposites.
Streeter Lecka Getty Images Sport
The Super Bowl came, and there were more questions for Alex Smith. He answered most of them.
Chris Graythen Getty Images Sport
All was quiet until the Chiefs hired Andy Reid who, according to Dilfer, had a 'courtship' of Alex Smith last year. True love is rearing its head again.
Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Then came John Dorsey, whose Packers ended up winning the Alex Smith vs. Aaron Rodgers debate.
Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
The Chiefs made the trade -- unofficially -- and Alex Smith began his goodbyes.
Ezra Shaw Getty Images Sport
Super Bowl team to a two-win team. Maybe they had to push him out of there.
Brian Bahr Getty Images Sport
Up next: Alex lands at Arrowhead (minus the whole Tamba Hali sacking him part).
Joe Robbins Getty Images Sport