How is Ahmad Brooks?

he is damn good,. he is the most valuable player on defense that no one talks about, just like hunter is on offense in my opinion

Whoever is against Brooks needs to read this...
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000128832/article/how-san-francisco-49ers-stopped-atlanta-falcons-cold

He is the unsung hero of our LB core and puts us over the top in terms of 'best LB core in the league'

I can't believe any 49er fan would start this thread

Originally posted by 5280High:
Whoever is against Brooks needs to read this...
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000128832/article/how-san-francisco-49ers-stopped-atlanta-falcons-cold

He is the unsung hero of our LB core and puts us over the top in terms of 'best LB core in the league'

Second down: The 49ers' pass rush didn't win a lot Sunday, but they won here. Linebacker Ahmad Brooks beat left tackle Sam Baker quickly around the blind side, making Matt Ryan throw before he wanted. Ryan did a great job just to find Jason Snelling for 5 yards and took a big hit afterward, apparently injuring his left (non-throwing) shoulder.

Third down: Brooks made the play again. Ryan stared down Roddy White, and Brooks jumped to deflect the pass. If the pass had made it through, I think the 49ers would have knocked it down or picked it off. They read the play.

Willis stuffed the run. Brooks got the key pass rush on second down and deflected the third-down pass. Bowman covered a Pro Bowl receiver on fourth down. It's a special linebacker group, with Brooks too often being overlooked. Everyone should know his name now.


highlight of this dudes life. Injuring Matt Ryan while almost sacking him

you guys have your opinions, I have mine.

Originally posted by NTeply49:

Originally posted by 5280High:
Whoever is against Brooks needs to read this...
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000128832/article/how-san-francisco-49ers-stopped-atlanta-falcons-cold

He is the unsung hero of our LB core and puts us over the top in terms of 'best LB core in the league'

Second down: The 49ers' pass rush didn't win a lot Sunday, but they won here. Linebacker Ahmad Brooks beat left tackle Sam Baker quickly around the blind side, making Matt Ryan throw before he wanted. Ryan did a great job just to find Jason Snelling for 5 yards and took a big hit afterward, apparently injuring his left (non-throwing) shoulder.

Third down: Brooks made the play again. Ryan stared down Roddy White, and Brooks jumped to deflect the pass. If the pass had made it through, I think the 49ers would have knocked it down or picked it off. They read the play.

highlight of this dudes life. Injured Matt Ryan almost sacking him

you guys have your opinions, I have mine.

Your forgot "Brooks got the key pass rush on second down and deflected the third-down pass. Bowman covered a Pro Bowl receiver on fourth down. It's a special linebacker group, with Brooks too often being overlooked. Everyone should know his name now."

Originally posted by NTeply49:
Second down: The 49ers' pass rush didn't win a lot Sunday, but they won here. Linebacker Ahmad Brooks beat left tackle Sam Baker quickly around the blind side, making Matt Ryan throw before he wanted. Ryan did a great job just to find Jason Snelling for 5 yards and took a big hit afterward, apparently injuring his left (non-throwing) shoulder.

Third down: Brooks made the play again. Ryan stared down Roddy White, and Brooks jumped to deflect the pass. If the pass had made it through, I think the 49ers would have knocked it down or picked it off. They read the play.

highlight of this dudes life. Injured Matt Ryan almost sacking him

you guys have your opinions, I have mine.

Find a new weedman please...for the sake of us all...

Originally posted by 5280High:
Your forgot "Brooks got the key pass rush on second down and deflected the third-down pass. Bowman covered a Pro Bowl receiver on fourth down. It's a special linebacker group, with Brooks too often being overlooked. Everyone should know his name now."

I'll put it in there for you

Originally posted by Doc9er:
To the original poster,

I understand much of what you are trying to say here, but it bums me out that you are so down on Ahmad Brooks. Looking at a few limited statistics does not give you a full appreciation of that player's value. Although buck posted some rather enlightening numbers, I would like to take it one step further...

In addition to the production you are getting from Brooks in terms of pass rushing (13.5 sacks in the past two years), you are also getting several other KEY components:
1) Healthy - the man has a pretty clean slate of health these past few years and that is crucial when it comes to teams who are contending for Super Bowls each year
2) Reliable - each week, each game, you are getting the same guy. Very rarely does he have weeks where he plays poorly and brings the entire defense down. That consistency is greatly appreciated by the coaching staff
3) Versatile - Although I am unable to provide an exact snap count, I'm fairly confident that Brooks played > 90% of our defensive snaps. That includes playing 1st and 2nd down as well as 3rd down packages. It doesn't matter what type of defense we are in, Brooks can fit in it. Another big time plus

When you take those components into account in addition to his modest pass rushing totals, you get a better appreciation for who he is as a player. Additionally, he was voted second team All-Pro which would place him in the top 4 OLBs in the league.

When a team asks a player to take a pay cut, that team is basically saying that they are being paid more than standard market value and the player is unlikely to make that much money out on the street. If the player thinks he is worth more than the team is offering, he refuses and the team cuts him. That would be a disaster for us! Over the next several years, Brooks will be making $5-7 annually (that's not including DE-escalators that will REDUCE the number if high sack totals are not reached). That equates to about 4-5% of our TOTAL salary cap spending.

Would you be willing to spend 5% of your yearly salary cap for a player that is one of the top 4 at his position that brings you both the production and attributes mentioned above?

PS - sorry for the lengthy post. Call me a big time Brooks fan I guess

Thank you for your post and welcome to the forums. I agree with you that he is a solid starter on our defense that has come up clutch for us in a few big games. He does fill many roles on our team, and I DO NOT think he is entirely replaceable this year, but we should consider it while we still have him as a safety net and roll the dice in the draft on someone. What I wanted to point out, is that we need to be prepared with a quality young stud waiting on the wings, who could spell Brooks maybe on passing downs. Truth is that our defense played far too many snaps last year, and it was remarkably healthy. I've never seen so many players play such a high snap % without many significant injuries. I don't think we will be so fortunate, and as we saw, when key members of our pass rush get dinged it really goes flat. I didn't write this post to attack Brooks as much as the position itself. I just feel that people are so concerned with Justin Smith and how his injury impacted our pass rush, that instead of trying to find a guy to fill his shoes or in addition too, we should add a better pass rusher opposite of Aldon Smith that command as much attention as him with double teams to give QBs nowhere to run.

It is apparent the board is near majority on deeming legally insane, and I'm sorry if my opinion bothers you and I didn't put the 1000th post up on the same s**t you read every day. I thought I had an idea that hadn't been addressed, and put it out there. Thank you everyone for letting me know how you really feel. lol

I think we're at that delirious point in the off season where we start making stupid threads again.

Originally posted by SonocoNinerFan:
http://www.csnbayarea.com/blog/matt-maiocco/source-brooks-salary-de-escalates-16-million

According to an NFL source, Brooks scheduled 2013 base salary of $4.3 million was lowered to $2.7 million because he did not meet certain requirements. His salary cap figure falls from $6.65 million to $5.05 million.

Brooks has "up to" $2.5 million in de-escalators in his contract over the final four years of his deal.

This is good news

Originally posted by Disp:
Only the 4th best lb'er on the team? CUT HIM!

According to PFF, here is where he ranks on the team and among all 3-4 outside lb'ers in the league. The guy is a top 10 OLB, period.

Disp - If I read your chart right it shows Brooks = amazing against the run, below average pass rushing, and slightly more penalties than the average player?

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:
He consistently put pressure on opposing QB's.

As far as the cap goes that can alwayse be re worked in some creative ways.

I'd strongly suggest you review game film if available.

The man is solid!

I will go back and re-watch the season on my dvr since I've stirred up so much raw hatred in my brief post

Originally posted by NTeply49:

We need to start working on replacing this guy ASAP. I think this is something a lot of people are overlooking. He is the biggest weakness on our team outside of free safety, and when he needed to pick up the pass rushing slack in the playoffs when both Smiths were playing with injuries, he didn't. As a matter a fact, he has never been much of a pass rushing presence totaling only 26.5 sacks throughout his whole career. At 29 years old, he has already peaked, with his best season being in 2011 when he had 7 sacks and 2012 he had 6.5. In 2014, his cap hit will be up to 7.5 million and in 2015 it will be up to 8.5 million. With Kaepernick and Crabtree extensions being of paramount importance while surrounding them with an excellent supporting cast, Ahmad Brooks needs to restructure and take a massive pay cut or get go play somewhere else. Cant can't afford to overpay for his lack of production. We need to find a better pass rusher to pair opposite of Aldon Smith, and by generating more pressure we can help negate the loss of Goldson on our secondary and get more turn overs.

Before you post, please realize I am trying to point out the huge cap figure for the following 2 seasons versus his production. This is an area that will be a need next season with our young stars about to get their first big paydays, and if you haven't noticed QBs are getting almost 20 million a year and Crabtree will want top 5 receiver money.

Think before you post. LOL!
Brooks is one of the most underrated players on the Niners, and was a 2nd team All Pro. We are fortunate to have him under contract.

He is saying for the cap hit not so much as a player personally. He is the worst out of the lbs but is one of the better olbs in the league! If he takes a pay cut down to 4-5 mil a year than that is worth his production bigtime

He's outstanding in run defense and gets decent pressure too. He also covers decently,