The cautionary tale will be just across the field from Sam Bradford on Sunday. Like the Rams' Bradford, the 49ers' Alex Smith was chosen first in his NFL draft class and freighted with the enormous financial and emotional investments that franchises make in bright young quarterbacks. When St. Louis (4-4) plays at San Francisco (2-6), Bradford will illustrate how a rookie quarterback can be nurtured for early success with a rebuilding team. Smith's early promise has been compromised by the 49ers' vicissitude, and he and the team have stagnated. Smith, who is recovering from a shoulder injury, could lose his starting job if Troy Smith plays well in his place. Bradford's rapid progress does not come as a complete surprise. At the University of Oklahoma he drew lofty comparisons: study habits as voracious as Peyton Manning's, the best pro day workout since Troy Aikman's. Even after shoulder surgery, Bradford's arm was strong. And he had the benefit of sobering advice from Manning. 'The biggest thing I got from him is that you have to understand you're not going to come in and understand everything overnight; you're not going to come in and be perfect Week 1,' Bradford said as he prepared to burrow into more film study during the Rams' bye last week. Manning's rookie season stands as a beacon of hope for quarterbacks who struggle early. He threw 26 touchdown passes and 28 interceptions. That Bradford started his first game reflects a recent shift in NFL philosophy. For years, many teams, even those that were struggling, thought it was better to let even a first-round rookie quarterback sit on the bench so he could absorb the playbook without the pressure to elevate the franchise's fortunes. Philip Rivers became San Diego's starter in his third season, Aaron Rodgers became Green Bay's starter in his fourth and the Giants' Eli Manning took over in late November of his rookie season. But Atlanta's Matt Ryan and Baltimore's Joe Flacco started immediately in 2008 and battled for rookie of the year honors. Mark Sanchez of the Jets and Matthew Stafford of Detroit started their season openers last year. 'It's about the now and being effective and attempting to be an upper-echelon team as soon as possible,' said Thomas Dimitroff, the Falcons' general manager, who drafted Ryan. 'I think the 2008 class really helped teams believe you can start young quarterbacks, be mindful about what they can offer, and it's been a very, very good thing for the league.' The care of a rookie quarterback is crucial to his development. Many do not even know the proper way to watch game film. Teams that do the best jobs of building quarterbacks cover everything they will need, including how to lift weights to strengthen their upper bodies while generating power from their legs, how to manage crises with the media and teammates, and how to behave in the locker room when they are successful. The Falcons, for instance, watched closely to see how Ryan handled himself in training camp as he rose from third string to backup to starter. He was confident, they noted, but did not try to exert his authority too soon. On the field, the Rams followed a formula used by most of the recent success stories by developing a strong running game: Steven Jackson has rushed for 676 yards in eight games. Dimitroff said that the Falcons did not want Ryan to have to throw 50 times a game and that they did not want him anointed by other players as the only path toward a quick turnaround. So they insulated him with Michael Turner. But much of the burden still falls on the quarterback to learn what might be an unfamiliar offensive system. Every Tuesday, usually the players' day off, Bradford meets alone with coach Steve Spagnuolo, a former defensive coordinator, to go over aspects of the opponent's defense gleaned from film study. Bradford is usually the first to arrive and almost certainly the last to leave, Spagnuolo said, and like the most serious quarterbacks, he studies film on Tuesdays. 'I don't think I understood until I got here,' Bradford said. 'Football is all I do now.' Typically, teams with successful young quarterbacks scale down their playbooks to avoid overwhelming them. After an early spate of turnovers, the Jets devised a color-coded wristband system to help Sanchez last season. 'Let's limit reads, make protections such that we give him chance to get the ball out,' Spagnuolo said, explaining the Rams' mind-set. 'When the growth process went quicker than we thought, we started to expand a little. We're at the point where it doesn't get thrown up on the board and someone says, 'The quarterback is too young.' But you have to be careful of having too much confidence in him.' As a rookie in 2005, Alex Smith said, he essentially lived at the San Francisco training center. He needed extra time to adjust from Utah's spread offense to learn the intricacies of the West Coast offense from Mike McCarthy, then the 49ers' offensive coordinator. 'It was such a blur,' said Smith, who injured his shoulder in Week 7. Former quarterback Trent Dilfer, an ESPN analyst, said that limiting the playbook for rookies was the only model he had seen work. Smith started every game of 2006, when Norv Turner was his second offensive coordinator in two years, and the 49ers went 4-4 in the second half of the season. Dilfer, his teammate at the time, said that Turner insisted on running only a handful of plays until Smith had mastered them. Then Turner would add a little more. By the middle of that season, Smith said, the offense had become clearer. 'That's why you see guys who have good rookie seasons often have sophomore slumps,' Dilfer said. 'Because you start to expand the offense. Because coaches say: 'He's got it. We have Peyton Manning; let's go crazy.' And he can do it in the meeting room, and then you're in game, and it's, 'Wait, what's this?'' Whether or not Smith has the talent to be an elite NFL quarterback, his growth has been slowed by continual upheaval around him. In his sixth season, Smith is working under his sixth offensive coordinator. He has sporadically lost his starting job. Dilfer has remained close to Smith and laments his situation. Manning has called the same plays the same way for 13 years, providing what Dilfer said is probably a three-dimensional mental picture of each one. Smith, on the other hand, 'has had plays called 13 different ways,' Dilfer said, adding, 'It's just a cluttered, confused mess.' Even someone like Smith, who earned his degree in economics in two years, cannot keep up. 'You're basically pressing erase and starting over,' he said of the way the turnover has affected his development. 'You're never getting to a level of expertise as quarterback. You should know more about the offense than any coach in the building. When you constantly turn over, no one is reaching an expert level, especially the quarterback but all the guys around you, too. It's like learning a whole new language.' The Rams and Bradford hope to avoid that fate. But in the meantime, as defenses see enough film to adjust to his tendencies, he may have to stave off the frustration and impatience that plagued Smith early on. 'Anyone that is a No. 1 pick is so accustomed to having those plays come so easily,' Smith said. 'I was so used to making plays, I started to force it. I'd be thinking, 'You should be making plays by this time.'' Luckily for Bradford and the Rams, he is making them now. With a less-than-stellar receiving corps, he has completed 58.6 percent of his passes, with 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He is the league's third-ranked passer on third down. And the Rams are tied with Seattle for the NFC West lead. 'My mind is still racing,' Bradford said. 'But compared to Week 1 and when I first got here, things have definitely slowed down.' 