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Aldon Smith, a defensive end from Missouri, was the San Francisco 49ers' top pick of the 2011 NFL Draft at No. 7 overall.





Meanwhile, a team source adamantly denied a rumor that they drafted Smith in order to trade him to Philadelphia for prized quarterback Kevin Kolb.

"We're keeping Aldon," the 49ers source said.

So, the 49ers still need a quarterback. They really, really need a QB.

General manager Trent Baalke and coach Jim Harbaugh don't lack the ability to stun their fans, but they still lack a first-line quarterback.

One could be coming in Friday's second and third rounds.

Or, more intriguingly, the 49ers could still possibly fashion a trade for Kolb starting next week, when it's likely that the ban on player trades will be lifted.

The 49ers' actions Thursday, in fact, suggest that they were less than enthralled by any of the draft prospects.


And it possibly points to them pursuing Kolb as the best bet for instant and long-term success -- if the price is right.

Aldon Smith will rise or fall depending on his talents and the 49ers' coaching -- he's definitely an interesting prospect, with tenacity and pass-rushing skills.

He seems like a reach, but I would agree that it's better to reach on a young, talented pass rusher than on a quarterback whom nobody quite believes in.

But, for the 49ers, this draft is still about the QB TBA.

Yes, given the 49ers' situation, this draft will still be mainly judged by the quarterback the 49ers end up with and the ones they avoided.

With Gabbert there, they took a young defensive end whom they will switch to outside linebacker.

With TCU's Andy Dalton, Nevada's Colin Kaepernick and Florida State's Christian Ponder on the board -- or available in a trade down -- the 49ers skipped over the quarterback spot.

With bigger-named, higher-rated defensive players still there, the 49ers breathed deeply and took a player generally predicted to go five to 10 picks later.


That shows some confidence, for sure. And, if the 49ers get shut out of the top quarterbacks in the following rounds, this decision also will be severely second-guessed.

"Was there pressure to look at a player like Blaine or all the other players? Yeah, there's a lot of pressure to do that," Harbaugh said Thursday evening. "You want to make sure you've done your research and done your homework, and when it's time to make your pick, you make the best pick for your football team. And we feel that's what we did."

If anything, we learned Thursday night that the Baalke-Harbaugh team, in its first day of drafting, feels pretty confident about itself.

They could have panicked and gone with Gabbert. They could have gone with the safer choice of North Carolina defensive end Robert Quinn or Nebraska cornerback Prince Amukamara.

They could have reached for Dalton or Ponder, or done anything they could to trade down for them.

Instead, Harbaugh and Baalke skipped over the likely quarterbacks and accepted the chance that they might not get any of the top six or seven guys available.

Maybe they have a line on Kolb. Maybe it's another veteran. Maybe they know something about one of the third- or fourth-tier quarterbacks in this draft.

It's all about hints and indirect suggestions. It's not about desperation.

That's what we know about this 49ers draft so far, and it's not much. It's about the QB TBA.

And if Harbaugh and Baalke are OK with that, then they are pretty cool customers.
