49ers Release S Antoine Bethea *Updated 3/7/17*

Great news about the guaranteed money of 6.5 million! Great signing!

Originally posted by Disp:

Word is Niners only wanted him back at $4mil/yr., so there was a pretty big gap. He basically got almost double what he was worth to our FO.

Whitner got more than double guaranteed. That's a considerable amount we save. Bethea is a 2 year stop gap. More then likely we draft a SS next year and have him sit behind Bethea (or win his spot). By then Reid will have 2 (or possibly 3) years in the system by the time a rookie SS enters. Should be more than enough for a cerebral guy like Reid to be able to teach the rookie the it's and outs. Even better if he gets to learn from both. I highly doubt Bethea stays for more than 2 years unless he absolutely balls out of his mind.

Originally posted by crabman82:
Chris Biderman ‏@ChrisBiderman 1m
Antoine Bethea's new deal with the #49ers includes $6.5 million in guarantees, per source.



Chris Biderman ‏@ChrisBiderman 25s
ESPN reported Donte Whitner got $9 million guarantees from the Browns.

per ESPN :

Whitner received a $9 million signing bonus and a $2 million base salary this season that is guaranteed. He'll also be paid a $4.5 million base salary in 2015 that is guaranteed on the 15th day of the league year. Barring catastrophe, Whitner will be on the team both seasons, and thus is guaranteed $15.5 million. Whitner also will be paid $6.2 million in 2016, and $6.3 million in 2017. Total contract: Four years, $28 million.

@thl: nice post as always.

A friend of mine told me that we get an experienced, durable high-class run and mediocre pass supporter with nice intangibles with little penalty-proneness.
In short, a Whitner for less money. I can live with that.

Originally posted by thl408:
Bethea earned his negative coverage grade in PFF, whatever that grade was. Not impressed much by his coverage skills when watching his film from last season. I don't think he's an upgrade over Whitner in the coverage department like some claim it to be, although I can point to the scheme that IND played as not being safety friendly. Not sure what kind of scheme the Colts ran in the previous years, but last year's IND team was rather vanilla with respect to defensive backfield coverage. They predominantly played cover2 man with the CBs playing press. They asked their safeties (Bethea, Landry) to hang back and help where needed with deep coverage while their CBs pressed and manned up. Very simple coverage scheme wise. Whenever IND asked one of their safeties to man up on a WR, it was always Bethea assigned the task, not Landry, for what that's worth.

The 49ers scheme involves much more zone from their CBs as the 49ers mix coverages from play to play as well as disguise with their safeties. Fangio's strategies are more complex than what IND ran last season. So Bethea will need to get up to speed with that as zone coverage involves passing off of WRs as the WR exits one defender's zone and enters the other. The passing off of WRs requires communication on the instinctual level with split second decisions on when a WR is no longer the CB's responsibility and is now the safety's responsibility. Bethea could very well be versed with this from IND's defense in previous years, I don't know. I'm just referring to what they ran last season.

So that makes playing safety for the 49ers difficult. One thing that helps the 49er safeties is how the CBs often play with a cushion. When the CBs play press, it is always possible that the CB gets beat off the line and the WR gets a clean release. This puts instant pressure on the safeties as they are in help mode right away. With the 49er CBs playing with a cushion, the safeties aren't immediately pressured to help with CBs who may get beat with deep vertical routes. Instead, the safeties can focus on watching developing route combinations, identifying plays, and watching the QB, instead of watching and seeing whether the CB on his side of the field got beat cleanly while playing press. IND also blitzed more than the 49ers did, which puts added pressure on the safeties to cover well.

So although Bethea isn't a clear cut upgrade over Whitner in the coverage department (imo), the 49er's coverage scheme may help him out, provided he get up to speed with the 49er's elaborate zone schemes. He is a good run support defender. That shows up in the stats and the film. There is no denying that. I think it's his intangibles that the 49ers really coveted. There's an added value to being a 9 year vet with a SB ring and multiple showings in the playoffs. Even if this is a lateral move, it's a good move.

Absolutely fantastic breakdown. thl408...you watched the Denver game, correct? I wonder if they kept their scheme vanilla b/c of who they were playing. Noting the CB's getting beat off the LOS stood out to me as well. I think this is a very fair and objective analysis. Thanks for your work.

Originally posted by thl408:

Bethea earned his negative coverage grade in PFF, whatever that grade was. Not impressed much by his coverage skills when watching his film from last season. I don't think he's an upgrade over Whitner in the coverage department like some claim it to be, although I can point to the scheme that IND played as not being safety friendly. Not sure what kind of scheme the Colts ran in the previous years, but last year's IND team was rather vanilla with respect to defensive backfield coverage. They predominantly played cover2 man with the CBs playing press. They asked their safeties (Bethea, Landry) to hang back and help where needed with deep coverage while their CBs pressed and manned up. Very simple coverage scheme wise. Whenever IND asked one of their safeties to man up on a WR, it was always Bethea assigned the task, not Landry, for what that's worth.

The 49ers scheme involves much more zone from their CBs as the 49ers mix coverages from play to play as well as disguise with their safeties. Fangio's strategies are more complex than what IND ran last season. So Bethea will need to get up to speed with that as zone coverage involves passing off of WRs as the WR exits one defender's zone and enters the other. The passing off of WRs requires communication on the instinctual level with split second decisions on when a WR is no longer the CB's responsibility and is now the safety's responsibility. Bethea could very well be versed with this from IND's defense in previous years, I don't know. I'm just referring to what they ran last season.

So that makes playing safety for the 49ers difficult. One thing that helps the 49er safeties is how the CBs often play with a cushion. When the CBs play press, it is always possible that the CB gets beat off the line and the WR gets a clean release. This puts instant pressure on the safeties as they are in help mode right away. With the 49er CBs playing with a cushion, the safeties aren't immediately pressured to help with CBs who may get beat with deep vertical routes. Instead, the safeties can focus on watching developing route combinations, identifying plays, and watching the QB, instead of watching and seeing whether the CB on his side of the field got beat cleanly while playing press. IND also blitzed more than the 49ers did, which puts added pressure on the safeties to cover well.

So although Bethea isn't a clear cut upgrade over Whitner in the coverage department (imo), the 49er's coverage scheme may help him out, provided he get up to speed with the 49er's elaborate zone schemes. He is a good run support defender. That shows up in the stats and the film. There is no denying that. I think it's his intangibles that the 49ers really coveted. There's an added value to being a 9 year vet with a SB ring and multiple showings in the playoffs. Even if this is a lateral move, it's a good move.

Nice breakdown. Did you just watch the DEN game from last year or were you able to watch every game? Just curious if you were only not impressed with that game or if it was multiple games.

Originally posted by NCommand:
Absolutely fantastic breakdown. thl408...you watched the Denver game, correct? I wonder if they kept their scheme vanilla b/c of who they were playing. Noting the CB's getting beat off the LOS stood out to me as well. I think this is a very fair and objective analysis. Thanks for your work.

I watched the majority of the DEN game as well as tidbits from other quality opponents like CIN, ARI, KCA (playoff), and NE (playoff). It's a scheme that relies heavily on individual talent. Can the CB win against the WR "mano a mano"? If not, the safety needs to help out. This is very different from the 49ers who use more of a team coverage type of strategy to help confuse the QB - not just the DBs, but the ILBs as well.

Whitner has been on record as saying the 49ers run a huge variety of coverage calls. More to learn and practice as a defender, and more for the opposing QB to decipher while the 49er pass rush goes to work. Being a wily vet, I'm sure Bethea has been exposed to all kinds of defensive schemes, just not in 13-14. I agree with the posters (previously in this thread) that have mentioned how we can't really gauge how well Bethea will do until he plays within the 49er scheme and behind the 49er front7. It is indeed a very different defensive scheme and we'll have to see how well Bethea fits in.

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by NCommand:
Absolutely fantastic breakdown. thl408...you watched the Denver game, correct? I wonder if they kept their scheme vanilla b/c of who they were playing. Noting the CB's getting beat off the LOS stood out to me as well. I think this is a very fair and objective analysis. Thanks for your work.

I watched the majority of the DEN game as well as tidbits from other quality opponents like CIN, ARI, KCA (playoff), and NE (playoff). It's a scheme that relies heavily on individual talent. Can the CB win against the WR "mano a mano"? If not, the safety needs to help out. This is very different from the 49ers who use more of a team coverage type of strategy to help confuse the QB - not just the DBs, but the ILBs as well.

Whitner has been on record as saying the 49ers run a huge variety of coverage calls. More to learn and practice as a defender, and more for the opposing QB to decipher while the 49er pass rush goes to work. Being a wily vet, I'm sure Bethea has been exposed to all kinds of defensive schemes, just not in 13-14. I agree with the posters (previously in this thread) that have mentioned how we can't really gauge how well Bethea will do until he plays within the 49er scheme and behind the 49er front7. It is indeed a very different defensive scheme and we'll have to see how well Bethea fits in.

Excellent...love this analysis b/c it helps set up more realistic expectations for next year.

Antoine Bethea played with Greg Manusky as his DC last year. Does that ring a bell for anyone? Remember when Manusky was the DC for the 49ers? All he did was run vanilla s**t for the most part.

Originally posted by iLLEST209ER:
Antoine Bethea played with Greg Manusky as his DC last year. Does that ring a bell for anyone? Remember when Manusky was the DC for the 49ers? All he did was run vanilla s**t for the most part.

he is a solid player and i feel he will fit right in. anytime i watched a colts game over the past number of years i always seen him making a play or two per game. been around the block and played in some pretty big games over the years. i like the move

Originally posted by iLLEST209ER:
Antoine Bethea played with Greg Manusky as his DC last year. Does that ring a bell for anyone? Remember when Manusky was the DC for the 49ers? All he did was run vanilla s**t for the most part.

Fom Mr. Vanilla Mike Nolan to Mr. Vanilla Gregy Manusky to Mr. Vanilla Mike Singletary. God those were terrible times!

Then again, we're pretty vanilla on offense too. Mr. Vanilla Jim Harbaugh/Greg Roman? Nooooo!

Originally posted by thl408:
I watched the majority of the DEN game as well as tidbits from other quality opponents like CIN, ARI, KCA (playoff), and NE (playoff). It's a scheme that relies heavily on individual talent. Can the CB win against the WR "mano a mano"? If not, the safety needs to help out. This is very different from the 49ers who use more of a team coverage type of strategy to help confuse the QB - not just the DBs, but the ILBs as well.

Whitner has been on record as saying the 49ers run a huge variety of coverage calls. More to learn and practice as a defender, and more for the opposing QB to decipher while the 49er pass rush goes to work. Being a wily vet, I'm sure Bethea has been exposed to all kinds of defensive schemes, just not in 13-14. I agree with the posters (previously in this thread) that have mentioned how we can't really gauge how well Bethea will do until he plays within the 49er scheme and behind the 49er front7. It is indeed a very different defensive scheme and we'll have to see how well Bethea fits in.

I think Fangios defense might be easier for him. You're right about the Colts relying on their CBs in man and I feel that style is harder for the safety to play in. If the CB is beat off the line the safety simply doesn't have enough time to read the run and react to the WR beating his coverage.

Plus he's going to have 2 ILBs that can actually play man so he wont have to worry about one of them not getting deep enough in coverage and the WR slipping in behind them.

I really feel like we need to pick up a shut down corner. I was kind of shocked to see Verner go for so cheap. We could've payed that price. Having a corner that can shut down the #1 or even just the #2 would go a long way towards simplifying the defensive assignments.

I watched the NE game last night. From a coverage perspective it was basically a worthless game. NE's play call was 2 runs for every pass. His role as run supporter is fundamentally different. He spends a lot of time close to the line. I didn't see him in man coverage much when he was on the LOS. And when he was playing close to the line and it was pass play he was playing more like an OLB with zone assignments.

It's going to be an adjustment but we have a great defensive staff. He's faster than Whitner and he's longer so from a physicality perspective we upgraded.

Matt Barrows ‏@mattbarrows

Antoine Bethea comes clean: He said he had 1 penalty in Colts' playoff game against NE. (But I can't find it in the official game book).

I don't understand the signng of this guy...

this remind me so much of a the time we let LOTT (not that Whitner is Ronnie) go, and then made a bone-headed move by signing the Saints' Dave Wymer...

Can somene explain this to me?? Don't we already Dahl who I know is equal to Bathea???

Originally posted by 9moon:
I don't understand the signng of this guy...

this remind me so much of a the time we let LOTT (not that Whitner is Ronnie) go, and then made a bone-headed move by signing the Saints' Dave Wymer...

Can somene explain this to me?? Don't we already Dahl who I know is equal to Bathea???