I woke up with an idea buzzing around my head. How many quarterbacks in the NFL are capable of making the 49ers offense better than it is with Alex Smith in charge? And who are they? Here are 15 off the top of my head – i.e. almost half the starters in the league in sort of an order:

Aaron Rodgers

Drew Brees

Tom Brady

Peyton Manning

Eli Manning

Ben Roethlisberger

Tony Romo

Philip Rivers

Cam Newton

Andrew Luck

Matthew Stafford

Joe Flacco

Michael Vick

Matt Ryan

Matt Schaub