The Facts

We have Justin, Ray Mac.

IMO, We need 2 more DE and a NT - all f which actually play in a rotation.

Good article.

http://blog.sfgate.com/49ers/2013/02/22/stats-tell-story-49ers-defense-was-hurting-after-smiths-injury/

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:
We have Justin, Ray Mac.

IMO, We need 2 more DE and a NT - all f which actually play in a rotation.

Good article.

http://blog.sfgate.com/49ers/2013/02/22/stats-tell-story-49ers-defense-was-hurting-after-smiths-injury/

that would put the niners on a level with some of those great 80s teams when they had a number of lineman in the rotation and their 2nd unit was better than many teams 1st units...louie kelcher, gary big hands johnson fred dean (all obtained from san diego--thank you Chargers), manu tuiasopopo, jeff stover, jim stuckey....

Good article, I agree with LasVegas... but are there any good ones in free agency .. or are there any rookies who would be ready to hit the road running?? We need someone to plug in like immediately.

FA - Randy Starks BUT the $$$ may be too high. He'd fit in perfectly.

I expect at least two defensive linemen drafted early this year because there are lots of potential starters in this year's group. I know there is talk of Keenan Allen with the first pick, but I expect that they would take Johnathan Hankins or Jesse Williams if they fall to 31. Either one could rotate with Justin Smith. Both are about 300 lbs or more and Hankins is 6'4". And, there are some prospects with prototypical nose tackle size that should be available in the later rounds. So, I don't think they'll have to pay big free agent money to shore up the defensive line.

Agree GNielsen.

Trent tens to be a bargin shopper in FA and WON"T morgage the farm for any one player.

I like that. Atlanta gave up a lot to get Julio and didn't even make it to the SBowl. There are many other teams that gambled on aplayer ot 2 thinking that player would be tthe missing piece. The only thing missing was a lot of their money and having to deal with the cap consequences.

Build through the draft and be VERY selective in FA.

Originally posted by GNielsen:
I expect at least two defensive linemen drafted early this year because there are lots of potential starters in this year's group. I know there is talk of Keenan Allen with the first pick, but I expect that they would take Johnathan Hankins or Jesse Williams if they fall to 31. Either one could rotate with Justin Smith. Both are about 300 lbs or more and Hankins is 6'4". And, there are some prospects with prototypical nose tackle size that should be available in the later rounds. So, I don't think they'll have to pay big free agent money to shore up the defensive line.

Im hoping for this. We really need to add some talent/depth to our D line and this draft is loaded with it. Assuming he can add on some more weight Im liking Datone Jones to become Justin Smiths future replacement.

Originally posted by LasVegasWally:

Agree GNielsen.

Trent tens to be a bargin shopper in FA and WON"T morgage the farm for any one player.

I like that. Atlanta gave up a lot to get Julio and didn't even make it to the SBowl. There are many other teams that gambled on aplayer ot 2 thinking that player would be tthe missing piece. The only thing missing was a lot of their money and having to deal with the cap consequences.

Build through the draft and be VERY selective in FA.

Atlanta will make it to the superbowl very soon and a big part of that will be because of Julio.. He's already one of the best in the league. Guys a freak

Originally posted by KegBert:

Originally posted by GNielsen:
I expect at least two defensive linemen drafted early this year because there are lots of potential starters in this year's group. I know there is talk of Keenan Allen with the first pick, but I expect that they would take Johnathan Hankins or Jesse Williams if they fall to 31. Either one could rotate with Justin Smith. Both are about 300 lbs or more and Hankins is 6'4". And, there are some prospects with prototypical nose tackle size that should be available in the later rounds. So, I don't think they'll have to pay big free agent money to shore up the defensive line.

Im hoping for this. We really need to add some talent/depth to our D line and this draft is loaded with it. Assuming he can add on some more weight Im liking Datone Jones to become Justin Smiths future replacement.

I wouldn't mind drafting him, but only because of his name.

"Who got the sack?"

"Dat One Jones Kid!"

Duh. Its like literally as soon as Justin Smith got injured, you could see the floodgates open up. Even in that Patriots game they ended up getting crushed in the 2nd half. I've never seen an entire defense fall apart like that due to the injury of one player. To me that says one of two things and possibly both, either their is really horrible defensive depth that the starters have to play a ridiculous amount of snaps or the coaches are doing an awful job preparing and developing the backups to be starters.


If the backups aren't worthy of being played, cut them loose and find people who are. If coaching is the issue, then they need to focus on the backups as well as the starters and try to get everyone more playing time, stop with this college level redshirting b******t already.

Agree Phoenix, good call.

I think our backups suck. Tukuafu[sp] and Dobbs stink. If they were ANY good they would have seen a lot more playing time before they were injured. RJF has potential and the jury is out on Ian Willliams - they still don't really proiduce s quality backups IMO.

Our coaches are VERY good and if we see that our DLine is getting gassed by playing 95% of the snaps - you can bet they see it too. Yet our subs were rarely put in. And when Justin went down yards and point were put up fast- see link!

If the rumors are anything close to true, the Niners may get an early second or early third round pick for Smith. That puts them in position to not only get a couple potential starters on the D-line, but one of the higher rated safeties as well.