Great Inside Linebackers are a luxury

I know we had some great ones, but to me they are the least important part on the defense. If you build a great front 5 in our case and a sound secondary that doesn't give up the big play you can get by and still have a dominant defense with one good to great ILB and one serviceable ILB or even to decent ILB's.

Our defense evolved over the years. It was 1st built around Willis because he was great and then Bowman became great so you build around your best players. Now hopefully we have two great OLB'S in Aldon and Lynch.

We should still add at least 1 D lineman, 1 corner, and an ILB, but I would be ok with adding the ILB in the 3rd or 4th rounds instead of spending a high pick on one when a better player is on the board.

Having Willis and bowman allowed us to play nickel 60% of the time and not suffer in the run game. Now we will have a replacement that is either weaker at run stopping or coverage or both. That being said, I agree, if one position had to be weak on defense and the rest was solid, I would pick ILB as well.

Originally posted by pd24:
I know we had some great ones, but to me they are the least important part on the defense. If you build a great front 5 in our case and a sound secondary that doesn't give up the big play you can get by and still have a dominant defense with one good to great ILB and one serviceable ILB or even to decent ILB's.

Our defense evolved over the years. It was 1st built around Willis because he was great and then Bowman became great so you build around your best players. Now hopefully we have two great OLB'S in Aldon and Lynch.

We should still add at least 1 D lineman, 1 corner, and an ILB, but I would be ok with adding the ILB in the 3rd or 4th rounds instead of spending a high pick on one when a better player is on the board.

I agree. Remember Brandon Moore? He had to step in for Willis for a bit and put up great numbers. Wilhoite looked good last year. Borland was on pace to put up 180+ tackles! Hell, even Moody looked good. That's not to say Willis and Bowman "together" on the field at the same time weren't special but production-wise, it IS the one position you can step into as a rookie and ball out and put up great numbers in our defense. Also, Fangio is gone so I expect we'll see less of the ILB's stuck in coverage and more of one of them substituted for a DB (of which we have a plethora of).

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Originally posted by pd24:
I know we had some great ones, but to me they are the least important part on the defense. If you build a great front 5 in our case and a sound secondary that doesn't give up the big play you can get by and still have a dominant defense with one good to great ILB and one serviceable ILB or even to decent ILB's.

Our defense evolved over the years. It was 1st built around Willis because he was great and then Bowman became great so you build around your best players. Now hopefully we have two great OLB'S in Aldon and Lynch.

We should still add at least 1 D lineman, 1 corner, and an ILB, but I would be ok with adding the ILB in the 3rd or 4th rounds instead of spending a high pick on one when a better player is on the board.

Common reaction to downplay the importance of player(s) that leave in order to feel better about the loss. But, I do agree with you, pd24. If I had to rank the order of importance in terms of player positions for a 3-4 defense, I'd go: DEs, OLBs, Safeties, NT, CBs, ILBs. Still, having great ILBs does more for a defense than having a great fullback (least important offensive position) does for an offense.

Fangio's defense really took advantage of Bow/Willis in 11-13. He used those two to do a lot of things with regards to pass coverage. Having Bow and Willis allowed the 49ers to play the CBs with a cushion and not suffer big consequences. The CBs would play with a cushion to prevent the vertical route while the doublemint twins were good at dropping back, providing coverage of the passing lanes to any underneath and inside breaking routes. Notice how even with the cushions that the CBs played with, very few quick slants were completed against the 49ers' defense. It was always quick outs that got them, not quick inside breaking routes. When the ILBs play like this, it usually allows passes to the RBs to be effective since the ILBs drop back to gain depth and give up short throws to the RBs who now have space to run. However, what Bow and Willis did so well was tackle in the open field and prevent any RAC yardage from passes to the RB. 1v1 versus a RB in open space is always a win for Bow/Willis.

I hope Baalke doesn't think he needs to address ILB with a 1st or 2nd rounder due to the recent retirings. I would rather help Wilhoite succeed rather than directly upgrading Wilhoite, and I'm not even high on him. Nab a good DE/DT prospect and coach that guy up. That will help the ILBs perform their assignments.

Wilhoit is underrated. I think Dline is a greater need overall

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by pd24:
I know we had some great ones, but to me they are the least important part on the defense. If you build a great front 5 in our case and a sound secondary that doesn't give up the big play you can get by and still have a dominant defense with one good to great ILB and one serviceable ILB or even to decent ILB's.

Our defense evolved over the years. It was 1st built around Willis because he was great and then Bowman became great so you build around your best players. Now hopefully we have two great OLB'S in Aldon and Lynch.

We should still add at least 1 D lineman, 1 corner, and an ILB, but I would be ok with adding the ILB in the 3rd or 4th rounds instead of spending a high pick on one when a better player is on the board.

Common reaction to downplay the importance of player(s) that leave in order to feel better about the loss. But, I do agree with you, pd24. If I had to rank the order of importance in terms of player positions for a 3-4 defense, I'd go: DEs, OLBs, Safeties, NT, CBs, ILBs. Still, having great ILBs does more for a defense than having a great fullback (least important offensive position) does for an offense.

Fangio's defense really took advantage of Bow/Willis in 11-13. He used those two to do a lot of things with regards to pass coverage. Having Bow and Willis allowed the 49ers to play the CBs with a cushion and not suffer big consequences. The CBs would play with a cushion to prevent the vertical route while the doublemint twins were good at dropping back, providing coverage of the passing lanes to any underneath and inside breaking routes. Notice how even with the cushions that the CBs played with, very few quick slants were completed against the 49ers' defense. It was always quick outs that got them, not quick inside breaking routes. When the ILBs play like this, it usually allows passes to the RBs to be effective since the ILBs drop back to gain depth and give up short throws to the RBs who now have space to run. However, what Bow and Willis did so well was tackle in the open field and prevent any RAC yardage from passes to the RB. 1v1 versus a RB in open space is always a win for Bow/Willis.

I hope Baalke doesn't think he needs to address ILB with a 1st or 2nd rounder due to the recent retirings. I would rather help Wilhoite succeed rather than directly upgrading Wilhoite, and I'm not even high on him. Nab a good DE/DT prospect and coach that guy up. That will help the ILBs perform their assignments.

Very true. And often times the TED has been called the "defensive fullback" of the defense. So if we can get Bowman back and playing well again, he's got much range covered in the passing game. I'm still curious to see how Mangini uses the ILB's in our 3-4 (esp. as it relates to coverage). Should be fun to watch and keep an eye on.

Originally posted by pd24:

I know we had some great ones, but to me they are the least important part on the defense. If you build a great front 5 in our case and a sound secondary that doesn't give up the big play you can get by and still have a dominant defense with one good to great ILB and one serviceable ILB or even to decent ILB's.

Our defense evolved over the years. It was 1st built around Willis because he was great and then Bowman became great so you build around your best players. Now hopefully we have two great OLB'S in Aldon and Lynch.

We should still add at least 1 D lineman, 1 corner, and an ILB, but I would be ok with adding the ILB in the 3rd or 4th rounds instead of spending a high pick on one when a better player is on the board.

I believe Bowman was drafted in the third round from Penn. State

Originally posted by Constantine:
I believe Bowman was drafted in the third round from Penn. State

Yup. And so was Borland. I see some mock drafts by our fellow posters on this site 'panicking' and selecting an ILB in the 1st round. I hope that doesn't happen unless it's some ridiculously good value.

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by Constantine:
I believe Bowman was drafted in the third round from Penn. State

Yup. And so was Borland. I see some mock drafts by our fellow posters on this site 'panicking' and selecting an ILB in the 1st round. I hope that doesn't happen unless it's some ridiculously good value.

I agree as well

ILB is probably easier to replace than an elite DE or OLB or CB. A solid ILB will allow the defense to play at a high level. I agree elite ILB's are a luxury. Awesome if we have them and they allow us to do different stuff but we can get away with "solid" at the ILB spots.

Originally posted by fister30:
ILB is probably easier to replace than an elite DE or OLB or CB. A solid ILB will allow the defense to play at a high level. I agree elite ILB's are a luxury. Awesome if we have them and they allow us to do different stuff but we can get away with "solid" at the ILB spots.

Truth!

Originally posted by thl408:
Yup. And so was Borland. I see some mock drafts by our fellow posters on this site 'panicking' and selecting an ILB in the 1st round. I hope that doesn't happen unless it's some ridiculously good value.

Agree, but I also wouldn't hate trading back into the mid-20s and taking Eric Kendricks. Ultimately, I still think we'll go BPA

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by fister30:

ILB is probably easier to replace than an elite DE or OLB or CB. A solid ILB will allow the defense to play at a high level. I agree elite ILB's are a luxury. Awesome if we have them and they allow us to do different stuff but we can get away with "solid" at the ILB spots.

Truth!

Will the Jimmy Graham factor influence our pick at 15? We may have to get out of the box a little because I'm not sure we're married to how we have dealt with him in the past. He's burned coverage for a few big plays but largely, we've been very successful against him. I'd venture to say only Seattle had him locked down better.

We know it's not Ward or Wilhoite alone but maybe over under using both? Seattle using Kam under was effective mostly because of his size.

Bowman is the best ILB the 49ers have ever had, great pick/find from Baalke