How many players are in football?

2013 NFL Season: How many football players have had as many chances as Alex Smith?

• Alex Smith is in hindsight a very valuable player, but seemed like a draft bust for the first 6 seasons of his career. How often does it happen that a player gets so many chances, and then finally pulls through when he finds the right system? Why didn't the 49ers lose faith in him?

• Answer:

  Smith is still only 28. Take a look at Rich Gannon -- who changed teams after age 28 and lit it up for the Raiders: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/G/GannRi00.htm Take a look at Vinny Testaverde: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/T/TestVi00.htm How about Stanford's Heisman winner, Jim Plunkett: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/P/PlunJi00.htm Or Super Bowl MVP (and the first black QB to win the big game) Doug Williams: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/W/WillDo01.htm I'm kind of partial to Doug Flutie, too: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/F/FlutDo00.htm And oh... Kurt Warner, a HOF QB, also HAS to make this list: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/W/WarnKu00.htm Sometimes, it's the player. But often, it's other circumstances.  Five offensive coordinators in five years did not help Smith; nor did lousy offensive lines (early in his career) and Frank Gore excepted, lousy targets at skill positions (until the light went on  for Vernon Davis. Think about a guy like David Carr.  He goes #1 in the draft, ends up on the expansion Texans, gets sacked 76 times as a rookie with no help, and gets mentally and physically crushed.  He's now a journeyman backup. What if Carr had been drafted #1 overall in say, 1989, by Dallas, and had that line in front of him, Irvin as a #1 WR and Emmitt in the backfield.  Think history would have been different for him?  I sure do. What if JaMarcus Russell had gone to a team with a head coach that kicked his ass and vets that stopped him from eating his way out of football?  Instead, he went to the NFL's worst current organization, the Raiders, and cratered. I'm not saying J.P. Losman would have been Tom Brady under Bill Belichick, OK?  But I am saying that sometimes, good players are put in terrible situations.  And they just aren't great enough to get over the hump. The Luck, RGIII, Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, Ben Roethlisberger, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly rookies who rock from day one... a rarity. Troy Aikman was 0-11 as a rookie starter.  Terry Bradshaw won one game.  Elway went 4-6 with a 7-14 TDP-INT ratio, and completed 47% of his throws (which is what Tebow completed during his year in Denver). So... sometimes, it takes a minute. I'm not saying Alex Smith is on a HOF trajectory. But he is 19-5-1 in his last 25 starts, with a 30-10 TDP-INT.  On a power team, yes; but if you surround him with playmakers -- and Jamaal Charles and Dwayne Bowe are certainly playmakers -- and keep him upright (see: OTs Fisher and Albert), the guy can ball. Don't bury Alex Smith yet.  ESPECIALLY in the AFC.