There has been significant debate about the massive four-year, $54 million contract the San Francisco 49ers are handing to Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Kwon Alexander. Of course, the structure of the deal has not been disclosed because it hasn't officially been signed. That cannot happen until the start of the new league year on Wednesday.
Alexander was a player the 49ers targeted early when the free agency negotiating period kicked off on Monday morning. Steve Wyche seems to love the imminent signing. He joined KNBR on Tuesday morning and discussed the 49ers' newest linebacker.
"This is a player, if he comes back healthy, it may take him a little bit, my God, he is a hell of a player," Wyche said on the "Murph and Mac" show. "He is a fantastic player. They want to use him in that WILL linebacker role, in the scheme that they use, so he's going to be someone in coverage.
"He's very good in coverage. He's a three-down linebacker, but he's super fast. That's one thing that they feel they really need to incorporate into that defense — a little more speed. He can cover the tight end. He can cover a running back. That allows you to scheme some things a little differently on defense."
Wyche adds that he has spoken to the 49ers and the team feels Alexander will add something special to the defense.
One of the knocks on the 24-year-old linebacker over his four-year NFL career has been his high number of missed tackles. Alexander had the most missed tackles (70) of any inside linebacker in the NFL between 2015 and 2017, according to Pro Football Focus.
"It's literally a mixed bag on his resume because I've seen a lot of Kwon Alexander," Wyche added. "He's a hell of a player. He's an exciting player. He's a disruptive player.
"The key thing, and we see it every year with some free agents coming over and creating all this excitement and then all of a sudden it flops, is how they fit into what you do schematically. A lot of times you see these guys coming from 3-4 defenses who are great, go to 4-3s and disappear.
"This is definitely a system fit. He's a 4-3 linebacker. Again, I've seen him. (With) the speed and disruption he causes at all levels, I think this could be a very, very good fit."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Wyche below.