San Francisco 49ers - All-Time 53

Here's an interesting discussion topic that was inspired by another post. Perhaps it can help educate our younger fans about some of the 49er legends of the past AND get us through Superbowl week and into free agency.

Here is my listing of the a complete 53-man football squad made up of the greatest 49ers to ever play. I intentionally left off the one-year wonders (Deion, Dent, etc.) and I used a 3-4 defense as my model. Do you agree with this roster? Who would you remove/add? How would you play this roster? Who would you start? How would this All-Time 53 compare to other teams? Have fun! I am interested in hearing your responses and learning myself.

QB - Joe Montana
QB - Steve Young
QB - John Brodie
RB - Roger Craig
RB - Frank Gore
RB - Hugh McElhenny
FB - Joe Perry
FB - Tom Rathman
WR - Jerry Rice
WR - Terrell Owens
WR - Gene Washington
WR - Dwight Clark
WR - John Taylor (PR)
TE - Vernon Davis
TE - Brent Jones
TE - Ted Kwalick
OT - Len Rohde
OT - Joe Staley
OT - Bob St. Clair
OT - Harris Barton
G - Guy McIntyre
G - Mike Iupati
G - Randy Cross
G - Jesse Sapolu
C - Forrest Blue
C - Howard Bosley

DT - Bryant Young
DT - Dana Stubblefield
DT - Leo Nomellini
DE - Justin Smith
DE - Fred Dean
DE - Cedrick Hardman
DE - Charlie Krueger
OLB - Charles Haley
OLB - Dave Wilcox
OLB - Aldon Smith
OLB - Julian Peterson
ILB - Patrick Willis
ILB - Navarro Bowman
ILB - Ken Norton Jr.
ILB - Matt Hazeltine
CB - Jimmy Johnson
CB - Eric Wright
CB - Eric Davis
CB - Kermit Alexander
CB - Abe Woodson (KR)
FS - Ronnie Lott
FS - Merton Hanks
FS - Dwight Hicks
SS - Tim McDonald
SS - Carlton Williamson

K - Joe Nedney
P - Andy Lee
KR - Abe Woodson (CB)
PR - John Taylor (WR)
LS - Brian Jennings

You have to make a spot at center or guard for Jesse Sapulo, Mudd wasn't in SF that long (Had to look him up only been a fan since 1972) maybe he has to go.

Originally posted by BobS:
You have to make a spot at center or guard for Jesse Sapulo, Mudd wasn't in SF that long (Had to look him up only been a fan since 1972) maybe he has to go.

Thanks Bob. He was my last cut. I had him on my initial list. Only having 53 and making it an actual team was harder than I originally thought.

Edit: Done

One thing I noticed while working on this is we are very, very strong at every position but the cornerback depth fell away very quickly. As a franchise do we just not draft, develop corners very well or do we rely on free agency to find them? It was very striking to me.

Joe Nedney was pretty good but i'm already over him with Phil Dawson... I dont get scared when Phil kicks...

Feel much better than i used to with the likes of:

Mike Cofer
Jose Cortez
Wade Ritcey
Owen Pochman
David Akers

just to name a few...

Originally posted by Stevec9932:
Joe Nedney was pretty good but i'm already over him with Phil Dawson... I dont get scared when Phil kicks...

Feel much better than i used to with the likes of:

Mike Cofer
Jose Cortez
Wade Ritcey
Owen Pochman
David Akers

just to name a few...

Cofer's predecessor Ray Wersching who was around for about 10 years wasn't much better. Seems like forever the 49ers didn't have a kicker that had a prayer of making anything past 45 yards even if they were on the road indoors on turf. It was odd that during the dynasty years and no salary cap we had to live with the Werching and Cofer era.

Originally posted by BobS:

Originally posted by Stevec9932:

Joe Nedney was pretty good but i'm already over him with Phil Dawson... I dont get scared when Phil kicks...

Feel much better than i used to with the likes of:

Mike Cofer
Jose Cortez
Wade Ritcey
Owen Pochman
David Akers

just to name a few...

Cofer's predecessor Ray Wersching who was around for about 10 years wasn't much better. Seems like forever the 49ers didn't have a kicker that had a prayer of making anything past 45 yards even if they were on the road indoors on turf. It was odd that during the dynasty years and no salary cap we had to live with the Werching and Cofer era.

The perils of kicking in Candlestick are well documented. I wonder what it will be like for kickers in the new stadium.

good list,, it is very very nice you included guys like hardman and kruger on it, sad to say many fans think the niners had no history before 1981. if i could get away with it, i would squeeze tommy hart in at DE but then he only had about two good years for us and got hurt, perhaps he was also good because of number 86 on the other side of him thanks for putting in blue at center. he was the best. again if i could get away with it, i would try to stick in frank nunley the fudgehammer in there at backer but great great list. if one of your wideouts got hurt, i think you can stick in freddie soloman in there. ken willard would make a real push at fullback if you wanted to make three fullbacks.

Originally posted by cciowa:

good list,, it is very very nice you included guys like hardman and kruger on it, sad to say many fans think the niners had no history before 1981. if i could get away with it, i would squeeze tommy hart in at DE but then he only had about two good years for us and got hurt, perhaps he was also good because of number 86 on the other side of him thanks for putting in blue at center. he was the best. again if i could get away with it, i would try to stick in frank nunley the fudgehammer in there at backer but great great list. if one of your wideouts got hurt, i think you can stick in freddie soloman in there. ken willard would make a real push at fullback if you wanted to make three fullbacks.

I love this. I like to hear about the older players and how they would compare to today's generation. Keep it up!

Originally posted by ArmchairQB:

Originally posted by cciowa:
good list,, it is very very nice you included guys like hardman and kruger on it, sad to say many fans think the niners had no history before 1981. if i could get away with it, i would squeeze tommy hart in at DE but then he only had about two good years for us and got hurt, perhaps he was also good because of number 86 on the other side of him thanks for putting in blue at center. he was the best. again if i could get away with it, i would try to stick in frank nunley the fudgehammer in there at backer but great great list. if one of your wideouts got hurt, i think you can stick in freddie soloman in there. ken willard would make a real push at fullback if you wanted to make three fullbacks.

I love this. I like to hear about the older players and how they would compare to today's generation. Keep it up!

aside from not being allowed to headslap, hardman would destroy offenses , there was no one better than him coming off the edge. we still hold the record for most sacks in a 14 game single season with the gold rush in 76. i think its 61 sacks including sacking the rams ten f**king times in one game that year. jesus with our tradition we could make a practice squad of guys who did not make your list and we would probably get to the super bowl

Originally posted by cciowa:

Originally posted by ArmchairQB:

Originally posted by cciowa:

good list,, it is very very nice you included guys like hardman and kruger on it, sad to say many fans think the niners had no history before 1981. if i could get away with it, i would squeeze tommy hart in at DE but then he only had about two good years for us and got hurt, perhaps he was also good because of number 86 on the other side of him thanks for putting in blue at center. he was the best. again if i could get away with it, i would try to stick in frank nunley the fudgehammer in there at backer but great great list. if one of your wideouts got hurt, i think you can stick in freddie soloman in there. ken willard would make a real push at fullback if you wanted to make three fullbacks.

I love this. I like to hear about the older players and how they would compare to today's generation. Keep it up!

aside from not being allowed to headslap, hardman would destroy offenses , there was no one better than him coming off the edge. we still hold the record for most sacks in a 14 game single season with the gold rush in 76. i think its 61 sacks including sacking the rams ten f**king times in one game that year. jesus with our tradition we could make a practice squad of guys who did not make your list and we would probably get to the super bowl

So using this list of 53...who would you start? That's where the real fun comes.

Originally posted by ArmchairQB:
So using this list of 53...who would you start? That's where the real fun comes.

i do not even want to try ,, i do know that i would start rice and gene and keep owens ass on the bench( i know why you put him in there but i still hate him). joe has to start at qb, gore and rathman would be a fun pair to start the game and i think i would start kwalik at tight end.jimmy johnson would take away half the field and then kermit alexander can go take out the knee of a seahawk like he did to gale sayers dean on side , hardman on the other and haley coming off a blitz would create terror in the nfl. if haley gets hurt and goes on IR can we bring in hart or maybe tim harris from your practice squad,, that way haley can go pee on tims car and it would be like the old days

Originally posted by cciowa:

Originally posted by ArmchairQB:

So using this list of 53...who would you start? That's where the real fun comes.

i do not even want to try ,, i do know that i would start rice and gene and keep owens ass on the bench( i know why you put him in there but i still hate him). joe has to start at qb, gore and rathman would be a fun pair to start the game and i think i would start kwalik at tight end.jimmy johnson would take away half the field and then kermit alexander can go take out the knee of a seahawk like he did to gale sayers dean on side , hardman on the other and haley coming off a blitz would create terror in the nfl. if haley gets hurt and goes on IR can we bring in hart or maybe tim harris from your practice squad,, that way haley can go pee on tims car and it would be like the old days

Bahahahah!

Get Iupati off that list. Put Deese or Bubba in his spot. Hell, put Kevin Gogan over Iupati.

Starting O:

QB - Joe
RB - The King
FB - Woody
WR - Flash
WR - TO
TE - VD
LT - Staley
LG - McIntyre
C - Sapolu
RG - Bubba
RT - Barton

Starting D

LE - Dean
RE - Haley
DT - BY
DT - Cowboy
SLB - Bowman
MLB - Willis
WLB - Norton
CB - Wright
CB - ED
FS - Mert
SS - Ronnie