Three years ago, former Eagles coach Andy Reid fleeced the Redskins for a second-round pick for quarterback Donovan McNabb. Now, it looks like Reid could be the fleecee.
Regardless of whether Alex Smith works out better for the Chiefs than McNabb did for the Redskins, the Niners have landed a high second-round pick this year and a conditional selection in 2014 for a guy who, barring injury to Colin Kaepernick, was going to be sitting on the bench.
The selection gives the 49ers a whopping 15 picks in 2013, allowing them to dominate the draft, Patriots style. If, for example, there’s a team that wants to move up to the 34th overall pick and get the highest remaining quarterback on the board, the Niners could stockpile even more selections -- maybe even a first-round selection in 2014.
The arsenal of picks also allows the 49ers to, whether now or in the future, pile up more and more players who, if those picks are used wisely, can position the 49ers to contend for multiple championships.
At a time when the defending champs are staring down the kind of turnover that could make it hard to repeat, the Niners are better suited than any Super Bowl loser in years to get back to the big game and win it.
If that happens, it’ll be the first time a team lost the Super Bowl and then return to win the game since the 1972 Dolphins.