Depth on our defensive line

I'm all about getting some offensive weapons. We have lots of draft picks.

Originally posted by Engleburger:
I'm all about getting some offensive weapons. We have lots of draft picks.

Well, cool! Let's get some O-weapons in the early part of the draft... unless BPA forces our hand. Sounds good?

Originally posted by oldman9er:

Originally posted by Engleburger:


Go back and watch.

... Yeah.. like some of us actually do watch the games... over and over.

We're fine on the DL. How bout we focus on getting some offensive weapons, yo ?




(yo, right? that's the young kid talk, right?)

Our starters are great, our backups are not.


I love UDFA's as much as the next guy and I hope and pray Dobbs or Ian Williams develop into beasts. That being said, it is incredibly unlikely and I don't expect it to happen.


Offensive playmakers are great but we looked fine this past year without them...why? Because Justin Smith, Ray McDonald, Ice, Aldon, Brooks, Patrick and Bowman were the best front 7 in the NFL.


I'd much rather load up on early round Dlinemen and OLB's and risk it with mid-late round receivers than draft a bunch of "playmakers" early and risk it with two UDFA's backing up my team's breadwinners.

Oh f**k, at first I thought the subject header read "Death on our defensive line"!!!

I think we could use another defensive end and eventually a replacement for justin, its not tragic but its a want not a need ,

We will know after this season how much depth we have. In the meantime I see no reason to worry because the coaches purposely kept all three (Tuku, Dobbs, Williams) on the roster instead of letting them go to waivers. If the coaches didnt see future potential that wouldn't of happened.

Outside of WR and CB this is the next area of concern for me and I couldn't agree more with adding QUALITY depth at DT/DE. RJF is a great rotational depth guy but we need another imo. This is a deep class at defensive tackle and I'd be shocked if the 49ers dont draft one in the first 4 rounds.

Originally posted by NinerG94:
Outside of WR and CB this is the next area of concern for me and I couldn't agree more with adding QUALITY depth at DT/DE. RJF is a great rotational depth guy but we need another imo. This is a deep class at defensive tackle and I'd be shocked if the 49ers dont draft one in the first 4 rounds.

I would really like to see how Dobbs performs after a full year of NFL conditioning with our DL guru of a coach... If he shows the ability to dumptruck starters like he did to backups last preseason... the best front 7 in the NFL just got even better.

Originally posted by 5280High:
I would really like to see how Dobbs performs after a full year of NFL conditioning with our DL guru of a coach... If he shows the ability to dumptruck starters like he did to backups last preseason... the best front 7 in the NFL just got even better.

Many were clamoring for Dobbs to start last fall. He played really well with Aldon and I'm hoping he will eventually be the next J Smith...great motor.

Originally posted by Baugh_Area:
Our starters are great, our backups are not.


I love UDFA's as much as the next guy and I hope and pray Dobbs or Ian Williams develop into beasts. That being said, it is incredibly unlikely and I don't expect it to happen.


Offensive playmakers are great but we looked fine this past year without them...why? Because Justin Smith, Ray McDonald, Ice, Aldon, Brooks, Patrick and Bowman were the best front 7 in the NFL.


I'd much rather load up on early round Dlinemen and OLB's and risk it with mid-late round receivers than draft a bunch of "playmakers" early and risk it with two UDFA's backing up my team's breadwinners.

How do you know how good Dobbs and Ian are not good enough-have they been given a chance. Look at Larry Grant. The few times when Dobbs was in there with Aldon-Aldon looked good, you would think, if Dobbs wasn't good enough, Aldon would have a tougher time.

With Jim Tomsula, you could probably stick a lot of guys on that line and do pretty well.

And yeah, our guys were UDFA, but take Ian Williams and RJF for instance (who was a 7th rounder) - these guys should have been graded much higher, but had things working against them to kill their draft stock. RJF was supposedly a character issue after being the defensive MVP in the 2008 BCS. Ian Williams had a bad injury in his senior year.

Originally posted by WildBill:
How do you know how good Dobbs and Ian are not good enough-have they been given a chance. Look at Larry Grant. The few times when Dobbs was in there with Aldon-Aldon looked good, you would think, if Dobbs wasn't good enough, Aldon would have a tougher time.

If they were good enough they would have relieved an exhausted Justin Smith or a crippled Ray McDonald.

Maybe they will improve and be good for next year, but no one on this forum knows. People on here talk about Dobbs like he's the next Reggie White. He's not. Neither is Will Tukuafu.

Even if one of these guys steps his game up, we need another DE. Depth at the defensive line is crucial.

Originally posted by Engleburger:

Originally posted by WildBill:
How do you know how good Dobbs and Ian are not good enough-have they been given a chance. Look at Larry Grant. The few times when Dobbs was in there with Aldon-Aldon looked good, you would think, if Dobbs wasn't good enough, Aldon would have a tougher time.

If they were good enough they would have relieved an exhausted Justin Smith or a crippled Ray McDonald.

Maybe they will improve and be good for next year, but no one on this forum knows. People on here talk about Dobbs like he's the next Reggie White. He's not. Neither is Will Tukuafu.

Even if one of these guys steps his game up, we need another DE. Depth at the defensive line is crucial.

I can agree with you. I say add a guy in the 2nd. rd. (Winney boise st., or crick from nebraska), and let J. Smith make/groom his clone

Originally posted by oldman9er:
I think we have good DL depth with RJF, Dobbs, Williams, and Tuku.

Not interested in spending a high pick this year that has no better chance of developing any better than the guys we already have.

Ya, plus depth is less important at d-line for us than most teams because most teams need depth because they rotate a lot AND in case someone gets hurt whereas we don't do a whole lot of rotating so for the most part backups only play if there are injuries.