Despite talk that the 49ers QB job was open, Jim Harbaugh indicated that Alex Smith had the complete support of the organization.

With several teams seemingly uncertain about their status behind center and the fact that six quarterbacks were drafted in the first 36 picks in April — including four in the first round — we could be getting ready to see something in Week 1 that we’ve never seen before.

When the NFL lockout ends, Super Bowl XLII hero Plaxico Burress can begin his search for a new team in earnest. In the meantime, he’ll make an appearance Thursday at the NFL Network and NFL.com offices to talk about his new ventures with the National Urban League and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

NFL.com analyst Bucky Brooks got some feathers rattled recently in a column he wrote suggesting that Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers shouldn’t be crowned among the league’s elite quarterbacks (Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Tom Brady) yet. Some of those emotions might get stirred up again as we broached the subject in the Cover Two podcast with Brooks and NFL.com senior writer Steve Wyche.

While coaches wait for the lockout to end, there understandably exists some anxiety regarding the learning and assimilation time incoming rookies are missing. In theory, all of these coaches and their respective organizations are in the same boat.

It’s been a conclusion for many throughout the offseason that Alex Smith would return for a chance to win back his starting job with the 49ers under new coach Jim Harbaugh, who openly campaigned on the idea.

The top seven quarterback prospects all went early in the 2011 NFL Draft, many of them earlier than expected. But each quarterback enters a different scenario with his new team, with unique circumstances determining how early they will be expected to contribute.

As far as teams that should be pleasantly surprised, I’d say the Bears were shocked to see Oregon State DT Stephen Paea sitting there for them at No. 53. Some analysts believed Chicago would draft Paea in the first round.

Nevada QB Colin Kaepernick is headed to San Francisco. Explaining how it happened shows the wheelin’-and-dealin’ side of the NFL draft.

It’s not easy keeping Shannon Sharpe quiet for too long, but the loquacious new member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame was kept off the Radio City Music Hall stage — at least temporarily — when the 49ers traded up to take QB Colin Kaepernick with the fourth pick in the second round.

Has Christian Ponder moved into the first round? Our Vic Carucci certainly believes so.

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick has gone from virtually unwanted to a high-round draft prospect, and his workout at Nevada’s outdoor pro day on Tuesday further boosted his stock.

Are the Dolphins committed to QB Chad Henne? The owner wasn’t talking at the Super Bowl. But GM Jeff Ireland said that the team was committed to Henne … for now.

So who are “the best of the rest,” the quarterbacks currently under the radar coming off the 2011 NFL Scouting Combine?

With an athletic group of quarterbacks working out Sunday at the NFL Scouting Combine, all eyes are on their every move as they rotate between skill and position drills on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium.