Alex Smith Quotes

So, there's no guarantee in the NFL that if you've got the No. 1 pick or you've got a top-five pick, that you're going to be able to draft a franchise quarterback.

I just don't think you pass on a great quarterback if you have the opportunity. If need be, you can trade it away.

I had all kinds of different quarterbacks. But we never drafted a first-rounder.

The quarterbacks who are picked in the first round and are declared - and I don't like the word - busts, it's not that the scouts were wrong about their ability or their potential. But commitment is such a huge part of it.

I don't think I'm ever surprised at how high the quarterbacks go. There could be a lot of teams that often times don't have a lot of first-round grades on guys that are going in the first round, and that's just the nature of the business.

The only model to me that correlates with big success in the NFL is having a Hall of Fame franchise quarterback.

I sat in the green room at Radio City Music Hall for the 2006 NFL Draft. At my table, I was encircled by my parents, brother, agent, former coaches and close friends.

Draft day is a hectic day, especially for draftees and, more or less, for management.

If you look around, there are very few really super quarterbacks. There are just very few. If you're lucky enough to have one, lucky enough that one of these Andrew Lucks is available when you have the top pick, then that's just a matter of luck. You can't attribute that to anything else.

If you look historically at the draft at quarterbacks in the top 10, about half of them flame out very quickly.

The Draft is about the re-generation of hope and excitement for teams. Every pick your team makes could be the next Tom Brady. He could be the guy who turns around the fortune of the franchise.

Obviously, when you take a quarterback, when you take anybody in the first round, it means something.

When I graduated from Utah, I was headed into the biggest job interview of my life, the NFL Draft.

I remember players talking to Willie Brown in my presence. Receivers asking, 'Is this who you drafted? I can't believe this is who you drafted.' I was hearing it from my defensive backs: 'Man, you got a long way to go.'

I talk about the NFL Draft on a daily basis because this is the sport I cover - this is the show I do - and I talk about everything that's taking place every single day.

You look at Matt LaFleur and where he's been. It seems like successful quarterback play follows him.

In a given year, there may be two or three NFL-ready quarterbacks at the college level. In another year, there literally may be zero.

I wanted to be in the situation where I could have a chance to go to the NFL and be a great quarterback and take care of my family.

The main reason why I would even potentially go to the NFL Draft is for my family.

You see a lot of smaller-school guys go to the NFL and have success: Carson Wentz, Derek Carr for example.

Once you get into the NFL, it doesn't matter what draft pick you are, what round you are, if you're undrafted or not. It's football time again. The draft, all of that doesn't matter anymore.

At the end of the day you never know what team still wants what player. You just never know with the draft.

You get drafted, you perform like a Pro Bowler, then they pay you. But there's certain teams in this league, that's not what they're trying to do.

When the draft comes and goes, there's a certain set of players you acquire and there's a whole bunch of others you had interest in acquiring. That doesn't die.

There is a lot of information to know, but I prepare for the NFL Draft by coming to work every day.