In the 2005 draft, the San Francisco 49ers held the top pick. They needed a quarterback. There were two guys that were thought of as candidates for the first selection—Alex Smith from Utah and local guy Aaron Rodgers from California. Of course, the 49ers took Smith, and it haunted them for years. The team went through a new offensive coordinator almost every year and Smith never had a chance to succeed until Jim Harbaugh showed up. He got the most out of Smith for a year and a half before putting in his guy, Colin Kaepernick.
But now Kaepernick has fallen out of favor in San Francisco and his replacement was a former top 10 pick, out of Kaepernick's draft class no less. Former Jaguar Blaine Gabbert was traded to San Francisco after the 2013 season for a sixth round draft pick. After going through new offensive coordinators and head coaches almost every year in Jacksonville, Gabbert finally got a little stability in San Francisco and has looked worlds better than he did with the Jaguars.
His first game of the season Gabbert led the 49ers to a win over the Falcons at home, throwing two touchdowns before throwing two late interceptions. The next week, he completed over 64% of his passes in a loss at Seattle. To his credit, he avoided throwing a pick against a vaunted Seahawks secondary. The next week against Arizona, he throw for 318 yards in a 19-13 loss to the Cardinals. The next week, he really looked good as he led the 49ers to an overtime win in Chicago. He ran for a 45 yard touchdown run and threw a 71 yard game winning touchdown in OT to down the Bears.
However, he hasn't been quite as good the last two weeks. The 49ers have managed just 24 points in losses to the Browns and Bengals, but he now has six straight games with at least one touchdown pass. His 62.4% completion percentage is higher than that of Marcus Mariota, Derek Carr, Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton, Jameis Winston, Blake Bortles and the man he replaced, Kaepernick, among others.
He's not on his way to the Pro Bowl anytime soon, but at least he's had a chance to be in the same system for a couple years and settle in, which is what most young quarterbacks need. Like Smith, Gabbert needed a change of scenery and then was able to take the next step in his development as a quarterback. With a strong finish to the season, Gabbert will be the incumbent to start in San Francisco next season and might finally be able to finally be a solid quarterback, much like Smith has become in Kansas City.