The truth about Dashon Goldson.

Ive noticed for the past few weeks, there a big myth going around the zone that Dashon Goldson is a pro bowl caliber S. statistics prove otherwise.

first lets look at his positives. he seemed to really have a knack for jarring the ball loose. in the game that basically started driving this myth, monday night vs. AZ, he made alot of very fundamental hits to knock the ball free.

he also tied for the NFL lead in sacks by S, with 3, although that was really all he did in the business of getting to the QB. hes nowhere to be found in QB hits or pressures, so you cant really call him a "pass rushing S".

He was solid against stopping the run, as was our entire D. finished in the top 10 for total tackles by a S in the NFL. he also picked off 4 passes, good for an 8 way tie for 7th most. (although he did have alot of chances)

and now for the not so impressive stuff.

Dashon Goldson was the worst cover S in football this season. yes, jarring fumbles loose is great, racking up tackles is nice too, but if youre a defensive back, you better be able to cover a pass catcher, or youll be out of a job no matter how hard you hit.

he was thrown at 52 times, good for 5th most in the NFL (which explains the high tackle total). he also gave up the 6th most yardage to pass catchers he was responsible for with 438, just 10 more yds than his buddy Michael Lewis at 7th. he gave up 3 TD's, which was top 15 (in a bad way).

while he racked up alot of tackles, he also missed 13 tackles, which is the 6th highest NFL total. only 2 PD this season, which is ranked 33rd.

now im not making this thread to tear him down, or to call him a bad player. hes still young, and has the tools to possibly get alot better and make his game more well rounded. right now, hes a hard hitter, he can knock a ball loose, and he seems to be around the ball alot. whether or not its because he cant cover, im not sure.

but the point is, he was not a pro bowl player this year, not even close. he can stuff the run, he can hit, he can even get after the passer a little bit, but until he improves his AWFUL coverage skills, he will be a liability to this defense. i have faith he can improve his coverage, but by no means should his job be safe.

Great post! I agree with alot of what you said there & hope that he improves with his second year of starting for the 49ers

I don’t remember anyone saying Goldson is a probowler. Maybe they said he has probowl potential?

I disagree that Goldson's high number of tackles is because he was thrown at a lot. It's because he's always patrolling the line of scrimmage. Towards the later half of the season the guy was all over the field and always near the ball carrier whether coming out of the backfield or catching a pass. What is the difference in numbers between the "5th highest thrown at" S and the 20th? Is it like 40 or more like 10? That should give us some good insight into how relevant your theory is.

A lot of his missed tackles was because he needs to learn that he can't always "lay the wood." But it's a fine line because "laying the wood" is part of his game and part of what will make WRs alligator arm and be intimidated to go across the deep middle.

Finally, teammates, coaches and commentators mention "range" as one of his most valuable assets. Range is code word for football speed, the kind that counts. So if you have a safety that has good range, hits hard and oh yeah, wears the green dot helmet I think you got a keeper. He isn’t an all pro (yet), but I like his chances.

Our S's get torched far to often

OMG dude chill! It was his first year starting and were already talking probowl caliber! Sure he made mistakes but IT WAS HIS FIRST YEAR!!!!!!! Next year we will talking about how he should of made all pro.

Originally posted by pelos21:
OMG dude chill! It was his first year starting and were already talking probowl caliber! Sure he made mistakes but IT WAS HIS FIRST YEAR!!!!!!! Next year we will talking about how he should of made all pro.

Your response was the reason he made the thread



Ha irony

Good post. Still wondering where you get these stats, but I do believe they are accurate. Goldson made some strides at the end of the year, but the Niners need to add some speed and coverage ability at the safety position. Lewis never was a great coverage guy and he is one concussion away from retirement. Reggie Smith hasn't shown anything and Roman's decent year last year doesn't erase the two prior horrific years. I would be in favor of adding someone like Earl Thomas or Reshad Jones to team with Goldson for the future.

He was pretty much the weak link of our defense for the first half of the season. Around the time Sing called him out for being undisciplined (headhunting instead of wrapping up) he started to play alot better, and so did our defense as a whole.

I do think he has pro bowl potential, since it was his first year as a starter and him and Brooks were probably the most improved players from start to finish.

Originally posted by m_brockalexander:
Good post. Still wondering where you get these stats, but I do believe they are accurate. Goldson made some strides at the end of the year, but the Niners need to add some speed and coverage ability at the safety position. Lewis never was a great coverage guy and he is one concussion away from retirement. Reggie Smith hasn't shown anything and Roman's decent year last year doesn't erase the two prior horrific years. I would be in favor of adding someone like Earl Thomas or Reshad Jones to team with Goldson for the future.

Or even Kam Chancellor who looked real good in the Shrine game! If Goldson stays at FS, then this cat, Kam, can be had just a tad later and be a great SS for us, IMO. The bottom line is we have some serious options to upgrade the depth of our Safeties through the first four rounds, not just the first two.

This is a great safety class with big bodies and speed.

Top 5 E. Berry
Top 20 E. Thomas
Top 20 T. Mays (I still don't understand all the hate given his skills as a SS not FS)
2nd C. Jones
2-3rd R. Jones
2-3rd N. Allen
3rd M. Burnette
3rd D. Stuckey
3-4th M. Rolle
3-4th K. Chancellor
4-5th B. Church

Now that is one heck of a list my friends. I guarantee one of those cats will be wearing Red N Gold next year!

Lucky us!

I would like links to ANYONE saying Goldson is a PB FS. I don't think you will find any, and that this is simply you trying to be a Debbie Downer for the sake of.

For his 1st year starting Goldson showed considerable improvement from the begining of the season to the end of it. I don't think ANYONE has said he is a PB safety, but I do think that evidence of his maturation has folks comfy with him manning one of (and really either one imo) our safety positions into the future.

Originally posted by Niners99:
and now for the not so impressive stuff.

Dashon Goldson was the worst cover S in football this season. yes, jarring fumbles loose is great, racking up tackles is nice too, but if youre a defensive back, you better be able to cover a pass catcher, or youll be out of a job no matter how hard you hit.

he was thrown at 52 times, good for 5th most in the NFL (which explains the high tackle total). he also gave up the 6th most yardage to pass catchers he was responsible for with 438, just 10 more yds than his buddy Michael Lewis at 7th. he gave up 3 TD's, which was top 15 (in a bad way).

while he racked up alot of tackles, he also missed 13 tackles, which is the 6th highest NFL total. only 2 PD this season, which is ranked 33rd.

now im not making this thread to tear him down, or to call him a bad player. hes still young, and has the tools to possibly get alot better and make his game more well rounded. right now, hes a hard hitter, he can knock a ball loose, and he seems to be around the ball alot. whether or not its because he cant cover, im not sure.

but the point is, he was not a pro bowl player this year, not even close. he can stuff the run, he can hit, he can even get after the passer a little bit, but until he improves his AWFUL coverage skills, he will be a liability to this defense. i have faith he can improve his coverage, but by no means should his job be safe.

Among Safeties, Goldson gave up the 6th most yardage (citation), as you've stated above. How does this qualify him as the worst cover Safety in the NFL? If we're going strictly on yardage, Goldson would be qualified as the 6th worst coverage Safety.

Having played the second most snaps among Safeties, Goldson's yardage total should be seen as reasonable for a second year player. I think we can all agree that Goldson stepped up his play during the second half of the season.

Originally posted by ninersrule4:
Our S's get torched far to often

This is also a reflection of our poor pass rush. As our pass rush improved in the 2nd half of the season, thank you A.Brooks, our S's started making big plays.

Goldson is a playmaker! Plain and simple. We needed someone who can make GAME-CHANGING plays.....and it was him. Sure he gave up the 6th most yards but consider this:
1) most teams passed on us A LOT more than almost anyone (Minn or Bal) because teams simply could not run against us, and

2) our D was on the field a lot more than other teams who's safeties were "better" against the pass

Logic lesson for people who want to argue him as a bad cover safety because of yards given up.

We needed turnovers and plays and he has been among the top safeties in the nfl...and that's the truth.

I know it is easy to get excited about the so-called "deep" draft this year. We are drooling over the good prospects that can become 49ers this year. But I look at this a little differently. It is a deep draft for all the other teams as well. Even the good teams that draft late in each round will be doing well. As we improve, so will the teams we are hoping to overtake.

Originally posted by ninersrule4:

Originally posted by pelos21:
OMG dude chill! It was his first year starting and were already talking probowl caliber! Sure he made mistakes but IT WAS HIS FIRST YEAR!!!!!!! Next year we will talking about how he should of made all pro.

Your response was the reason he made the thread



Ha irony

Good post.