Alex Smith's Advice for Young NFL Quarterbacks

Alex Smith is the most inspirational quarterback in the NFL.

First, he was the 49ers No. 1 pick. Then he was a bust. Then he became a winner. Then he almost leg. And now he's winning again.

Almost everything bad that could happen to a quarterback happened to Smith. New offensive coordinator every season when he was young? Check. Terrible head coaches his first few season? Franchises that gave up on him? Check.

Smith succeeds despite his past. Now, he has become the voice of every overly-criticized quarterback. And on conference call with Bay Area reporters Wednesday afternoon, Smith gave those young quarterbacks advice:

"Nobody has it easy," Smith said. "You're never going to make everybody happy. Don't try. Be confident in who you are, be comfortable in your own skin and go out there and own that. That was my biggest problem those first few years, just trying to have everybody like me. It was just so unrealistic and not practical, it was never going to happen and it's not a great way to live life or play football.

"So be comfortable with who you are, with your own style of play. Don't try to be anybody else. So often, we get compared to one another as players, especially quarterbacks. Be comfortable with how you do it. There are a lot of ways to play quarterback in this league. Right now, there are a lot of guys doing it different ways and having a lot of success. Find your own game and own that."

"How long did it take you to find your own game?" A reporter asked Smith.

"Part of me was trying to prove I was a pocket passer," Smith explained. "Could I be an NFL quarterback? That was the big challenge for me coming out. Could I be a pocket passer? Could I be this NFL quarterback? It's funny in this day and age how that has flipped, but it was a few years for me before I got back to embracing using my legs, my athletic ability. I enjoy running, did a ton of it then. Really owning that and being proud of it as opposed to trying to be a prototypical, drop-back pro-style quarterback. Funny how much it has changed since then, because certainly now it's so fun to watch guys come into the league and get to use all their talents."

I can only imagine how good it must have felt for Smith to say that. He was right, Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary were wrong about him and now Smith gets to gloat in an extremely polite, understated way.

Good for Alex Smith.