Nice article about our DB coaches

http://blog.49ers.com/2010/05/19/db-coaches-second-ary-to-none/

I have long said we have two very good defensive back coaches in veteran coach Johnny Lynn and the younger Vance Joseph. Lynn's resume is very impressive as a DB's coach and he was a decent defensive coordinator for the NY Giants for a couple of seasons. He is a great teacher while Joseph is more of a players coach but also very bright and a rising star in the coaching ranks, IMO.

Still waiting on that feature on Jason Tarver who I think is an extremely bright, young coach who amazingly has survived the tenure of four different head coaches on the 49ers and has even switched from coaching on the offensive side of the ball to the defensive side.

Also excited to see the former UCLA Bruin and longtime NFL safety Johnny Lynn, work with rookie and former USC Trojan Taylor Mays.

Real quick on Johnny Lynn again...His record as a DB's coach for what, 17 years for teams like the 49ers (1996 and the last four years), the Giants, Ravens and Buccaneers is very solid. He has also served under some very good defensive coordinators such as John Fox, Rex Ryan, Pete Carroll and Mike No.....

well i hope they can get clements to play up to his salary and bring out the best in james and the other new guys and rookies and we will have a solid defense i hope mays proves everyone wrong and lets see if reggie smith stays healthy

Originally posted by Pintor73:
well i hope they can get clements to play up to his salary and bring out the best in james and the other new guys and rookies and we will have a solid defense i hope mays proves everyone wrong and lets see if reggie smith stays healthy

Agree with you

Originally posted by Pintor73:
well i hope they can get clements to play up to his salary and bring out the best in james and the other new guys and rookies and we will have a solid defense i hope mays proves everyone wrong and lets see if reggie smith stays healthy

Clements was a bit up and down last year but for the most part he has played well since signing with us it's just some people (A.expect him to play like an $80million dollar corner and (B.Actually believe he got paid that much which is not true and he won't even see half that money.

Clements will be fine, hopefully he stays healthy and Spencer gets in here as well and repeats last years performance. We cannot afford either of these guys to get hurt.

If Reggie Smith can stay healthy I see him replacing Mark Roman as our top backup safety and the 6th DB in Nickel and Dime packages and expect him to be an upgrade over Roman.

Thanks for pointing out that Taylor Mays has good coaches, cause he will need all the help he can get to improve his coverage skills. If he can improve his coverage skills, than he will be a second round steal.

I too want Reggie Smith to stay healthy this year. I'm really curious to see what he can do. In his first two years, he has had leg injuries that took him off the radar.

Originally posted by mebemused:
Thanks for pointing out that Taylor Mays has good coaches, cause he will need all the help he can get to improve his coverage skills. If he can improve his coverage skills, than he will be a second round steal.

I too want Reggie Smith to stay healthy this year. I'm really curious to see what he can do. In his first two years, he has had leg injuries that took him off the radar.

Yeah thats a big IF and it's not a good sign that Mays is working with the THIRD TEAM. I think he is a bigger project than most thought including myself and the 49ers as well. He may be strictly a special teams player his first year or two, if he even dresses on gameday. Hopefully Reggie Smith can stay healthy and finally make a impact this year.

Everyone is entitled to there opinions of course. I think MAYS was a great pick and that we got him in the second round. I didn't expect him to start this year, although I expect to see him in on some nickle packages later on in the year. Mays has the skills to be another Michael Lewis (in the box) type safety. Let's hope that he can apply those (not yet) sharpened skills to the field soon. We all knew he was not NFL ready (I hope), although we all (wish) for such things. Something to be remembered though is that this kid has Ronnie Lott in his corner as a mentor and that is a plus.

Originally posted by PatrickJira411:

Originally posted by mebemused:
Thanks for pointing out that Taylor Mays has good coaches, cause he will need all the help he can get to improve his coverage skills. If he can improve his coverage skills, than he will be a second round steal.

I too want Reggie Smith to stay healthy this year. I'm really curious to see what he can do. In his first two years, he has had leg injuries that took him off the radar.

Yeah thats a big IF and it's not a good sign that Mays is working with the THIRD TEAM. I think he is a bigger project than most thought including myself and the 49ers as well. He may be strictly a special teams player his first year or two, if he even dresses on gameday. Hopefully Reggie Smith can stay healthy and finally make a impact this year.

It's interesting that you see it that from perspective, because I don't. I think the reason why Mays is playing on the third team is because they want to see more from Reggie Smith/Curtis Taylor. One or both of those safeties could be out of a job before the season starts and I feel like the coaching staff is trying to figure out exactly where those two fit. Both players have been injured, with Reggie being injured regularly since he got here. And though we've been hearing about his enormous potential, it remains to be seen whether or not Reggie will be making an impact this year especially if he can't stay healthy. I personally think Mays will be fine and I though I don't see him starting this year, I could see him getting a lot of playing time based on how quickly he learns the system. His incredible athleticism alone will make it difficult for the coaching staff to leave him off the bench. And because of Lewis's injury history, they will need to have someone which I believe will be Mays ready to go.

Originally posted by 49ers_4ever:
Everyone is entitled to there opinions of course. I think MAYS was a great pick and that we got him in the second round. I didn't expect him to start this year, although I expect to see him in on some nickle packages later on in the year. Mays has the skills to be another Michael Lewis (in the box) type safety. Let's hope that he can apply those (not yet) sharpened skills to the field soon. We all knew he was not NFL ready (I hope), although we all (wish) for such things. Something to be remembered though is that this kid has Ronnie Lott in his corner as a mentor and that is a plus.

The traditional view is that D's play SS, bigger and better against the run than coverage, and a FS, smaller, better against coverage than the run. Manusky's plan, see the news section, is to have "mirror" players, guys with identical skill sets at safety, ILB, and OLB. The identical skill sets allow Manusky to disguise his defense, making it harder for QBs to read, and preserving the element of surprise.

In a pass first league, whether Mays can be a mirror safety remains to be seen. If he can't, he can play a traditional SS role, but we will lose some of the unpredictability that Manusky is looking for in mirrored players.

I think this is one of the most intriguing group battles of the preseason... Little is actually set at either corner or safety: maybe you could say Goldson and Lewis are set at safety, but Lewis is one concussion away from retirement. And then what?

It would be nice if Spencer and Clements were optimized and ready to rock and roll at corner when the season opens, but will Clements even still be on the roster? Without showing that he's all the way back from a broken shoulder and his mid-season ennui, not to mention probably having to take a pay cut from the $6 million he's due, Clements may not even be on the team when the season starts.

So coach 'em up, guys, and let's see where the chips fall at the end of camp. We all may be pleasantly surprised. Or at least surprised.