"At long last, wide receiver Braylon Edwards suited up with the 49ers on Thursday, some six years after touring their headquarters and stumping to become their No. 1 overall draft pick.

"Let's say you do draft a quarterback. Who's he going to throw to?" Edwards asked reporters during that 2005 pre-draft visit. "You obviously will need somebody for the quarterback to throw to.

"I thrive in big games, big stages. I'm a very intellectual, very intelligent person, so picking up the offense is nothing for me. We played in the West Coast offense (at the University of Michigan), so I just think it would be a really good fit."

It might be a more perfect fit now.

First-year coach Jim Harbaugh, a fellow Michigan man, is reinstalling the West Coast offense. The quarterback slated to run those schemes is Alex Smith, whom the 49ers still are deploying after taking him No. 1 and ahead of Edwards, the No. 3 pick by the Cleveland Browns.

Thursday's ratification of the collective bargaining agreement allowed Smith and other recently re-signed or newly acquired players to partake in their first practice of training camp.

That included Edwards, who caught a couple of passes in a No. 81 jersey but none from an admittedly rusty Smith."