The Sports Xchange

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Their names have been linked since the first round of the 2005 NFL draft when the first player selected was University of Utah quarterback Alex Smith, and choice No. 24 was University of California quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

A decade later, Smith and Rodgers will be together in Lambeau Field when the Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers play this Monday night. It’s been quite a journey for both men since that day at draft headquarters in New York when Smith was grabbed by San Francisco with the first choice and Rodgers was forced to wait through 22 more picks before the Packers called his name.

They hold very different standings 10 years later. Rodgers is considered one of the two or three best quarterbacks in the league, with a pair of MVP honors and remarkable career numbers in completion percentage (66 percent), touchdown passes (231), lack of interceptions (57) and passer rating (106.4). All this came after he spent his first three seasons on the Packers bench, behind one of the position’s great ironmen, Brett Favre.

Did sitting and watching Favre hinder Rodgers’ development as a starting NFL quarterback? Packers head coach Mike McCarthy doesn’t think that was the case at all.

“It’s not do you play the quarterback, it’s really is the team ready for the rookie quarterback?” said McCarthy, who has an interesting view of Smith and Rodgers. He was the offensive coordinator in San Francisco in 2005 and head coach of the Packers in 2006. “The situation was different with Brett (Favre) here, but I knew after our first year in 2006 we felt he (Rodgers) was ready to go, and in 2007 when he did get to play it was clear he was ready to go. It definitely helped him.”

Smith’s time in the spotlight as the No. 1 choice was pressure that he admits years later was not handled very well.

“Shoot, it was four or five years before you totally drop that,” Smith said of dealing with the first-choice designation. “It can be a lot of anxiety, you know, self-talk can get you and stuff like that. You can carry a lot of weight around and it was hard for me, hard for me early on.”

In his first three seasons with the 49ers, Smith made 30 starts, throwing 19 touchdown passes compared to 31 interceptions. San Francisco was 11-19 in those games. Smith missed the 2008 season with a shoulder injury, and that happened to be the year where Rodgers became the Green Bay starter, replacing Favre. Since then, Rodgers has started 116 games in the regular season and playoffs, with the Packers posting a 78-38 record in those games.

For Smith, it would be two more seasons (2009-10) before he was able to produce on the field as the 49ers’ starting quarterback. In 2011, he led San Francisco to a 13-3 record and into the NFC Championship Game where they lost to the New York Giants. The next season, Smith was 6-2-1 as the starter before a concussion sent him to the sideline and he was replaced by Colin Kaepernick. That move ultimately led to his 2013 trade to the Chiefs.

“You just keep going and try to play through it,” Smith said of putting the No. 1 pressure behind him. “Stuff happens, good and bad, and I think eventually time; time is probably a big factor in that, at least with me it was. Just getting removed from it and letting it go.”

In hindsight, would Smith rather have been the 24th selection in the first round or even the No. 2 pick, rather than the first name called?

“No, I mean, listen, I haven’t given that any thought,” Smith said. “I’m so thankful for where I’m at, personally and professionally, and obviously I wouldn’t want any of that changed over where I was picked.”

Rodgers said this week he’s never spent time thinking what might have happened if he was the No. 1 choice, not Smith.

“I don’t really play those what-if games,” Rodgers said. “He went to San Fran and had a lot of different coordinators and I got to come here. I’m happy where I’m at.”

Smith is still battling to reach Rodgers status in the league, especially when it comes to the Super Bowl ring the Packers’ quarterback wears. He thinks this season may be the best chance of his career because of the continuity that head coach Andy Reid and his coaching staff have provided the Chiefs’ offense over the last three seasons.

“To have this kind of stability is rare in the NFL,” Smith said of an offensive coaching group that has not changed since joining the Chiefs in 2013. “It’s not just me, but all the guys here, to be able to play in the same system and to master it, master the details of the scheme, of your position, for all of us to get on the same page. It’s taken everybody … I think when you have that stability, obviously you’re able to do that.”

Monday night’s game will not be the first time Smith and Rodgers have been on the field with opposing teams. In the 2012 season opener, San Francisco went to Green Bay and while Rodgers won the statistical battle (30 of 44 for 303 yards), Smith’s 49ers went home with a 30-22 victory thanks to touchdown passes to Randy Moss and Vernon Davis.

SERIES HISTORY: 11th regular-season meeting. Chiefgs lead series, 7-2-1. The Chiefs are unbeaten at Lambeau Field, where they have won three times, including their last visit in 2003 when they grabbed a 40-34 overtime victory on a 51-yard touchdown capping a comeback from a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter. These teams also met in what is now known as Super Bowl I, when the Packers beat the Chiefs 35-10 in January 1967 at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

–It was as emotional a moment as Arrowhead Stadium had seen since opening in 1972. When Eric Berry was introduced to the crowd before last Thursday night’s game against Denver, the reaction of the Chiefs faithful was loud and proud, with moist eyes all around as the safety returned for his first regular-season game after his battle with Hodgkin lymphoma.

A week later the safety’s memories of that introduction are hazy at best.

“I blacked out,” Berry said. “I don’t even remember it. There was just so much emotion. At the end of the day it was a blessing and I’m just thankful; everything that surrounds the game and everything that’s part of the game I appreciate it a lot more.”

The game was another door Berry had to open in his comeback from chemo treatments that left him dealing with pain, lethargy and at times despair for more than six months. That Arrowhead night also marked his return to the starting lineup, as he opened on the back line with Ron Parker for the first time in four preseason games and two regular-season outings.

Berry said he feels he’s back physically, but still needs improvement mentally in processing the game plan and the action. “I can always grow physically, but much more mentally,” Berry said. “I think that’s going to come along just being out there with my teammates and gaining that chemistry so we can all be on the same page.”

Notes: Tackle Eric Fisher appears headed back to the starting lineup at right tackle, after missing the season’s first two games because of an ankle injury. Fisher was moved from left to right tackle after missing the last three preseason games. He then was kept out of the Houston and Denver games because he was not healthy enough according to Reid. … Tackle Donald Stephenson has returned to practice after suffering a sprained ankle in last week’s Thursday night game against Denver. Stephenson came out of that game for one play, but he’s shown no problems with the sprain since the game. He should remain the starter at left tackle when the Chiefs go to Green Bay for Monday night’s game.