How is Ahmad Brooks?

Nice write up on Brooks in the "Secret Superstar" series by Pro football focus

http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/06/20/secret-superstar-ahmad-brooks-olb-san-francisco-49ers/

The 49ers were arguably the most surprising team in 2011, and it was almost completely due to their defense. On the defensive line both Justin Smith and Ray McDonald improved, even though we had thought Smith's play in 2010 was as good as it gets for 3-4 defensive ends. At linebacker, Patrick Willis continued to play at an All-Pro level, NaVorro Bowman showed he should be a great inside linebacker for years to come, while Aldon Smith was outstanding as a rookie pass rusher. At defensive back, an underachieving Carlos Rogers finally lived up to the hype of being a Top 10 draft pick.

Those players have been mentioned plenty by Pro Football Focus as well by as the rest of the media. What makes the 49ers defense even scarier is that they have strong starters at the other positions as well. One that especially stands out is left outside linebacker Ahmad Brooks. It was a long journey for Brooks to make it to the NFL, to the 49ers, and ultimately to the starting lineup in San Francisco. With so many star performances it became easy to overlook the impact he made, but Brooks made the plays the 49ers needed him to make.

It's hard not to look at this LB corps as tops in the NFL

I always thought Ahmad Brooks would be our starter someday after the 09 season when he recorded 6 sacks in two separate games. He will blow up this season and solidify one of the greatest linebacking corps in NFL history.

Great read... lots of good info in there and very much worthy of a click.

Excellent read.

If he can get more sacks he'll get the recognition he deserves. He is getting better every season.

Like most, I can't wait for the season to start.

I think Brooks is primed to explode. With the two Smiths on the other side, Brooks should be looking at some one-on-one matchups, no?

Only gripe about Brooks... if he thinks he was offsides, he stops and stands there. Sometimes it takes him out of the play. He fixes that small thing, he will be a handful. Don't hear a whistle? Go give that QB a good SMACK!

I'm sure you guys are sick of hearing from me on Brooks b/c I've been detailing him for years now but it's nice to finally see him get a real shot, make the most of it and is now getting his recognition esp. outside this board. Like Davis, he turned his life around.

As far as straight production last year, his first year as a starting SAM in the 3-4, I matched up his key stats with all of the 3-4 LB's and you can see, collectively, we have the best unit in football despite some outstanding individual play by other SAM's, TED's (Bowman), MIKE's (Willis) & WILL's (Aldon Smith).

Brooks, right out of the gate probably had the 2nd or at least 3rd best season of every single SAM 3-4 LB in the game last year and his ability to play every snap, play the run (he actually led the team in TFL which are just like sacks), seal the edge (containment), drop back in coverage (in zone or man-on-man), make tackles, and provide consistent QB hits/pressures and 8 (1 in the playoffs) sacks and 1 FF is at the top of the list for SAM linebackers and a big reason we locked him up long term. Now he is in the best shape of his career, has security to play balls out, has a coaching staff that believes in him and will be helped next year by Justin & Aldon Smith taking up some of the double-teams he got ALL last season, including the playoffs.

The SAM position is VERY different from the WILL position and I hope people recognize that (just look at the links/numbers I provided blow). If Brooks were to get low double-digit sacks from the QB's sight-side, that is the equivalent of Aldon getting high double-digit sacks from the QB's blind-side. Brooks is also exceptional at recognizing runs vs. pass as evidenced by TFL and QB pressures on QB's in the RZ that lead to quick throws and incompletions vs. TD's. He lines up on the strong side (usually where the TE lines up) and therefore, was constantly double-teamed last year and still produced 8 sacks, 50+ tackles, tops on the team in total QB pressures/sacks. That's remarkable for playing "straight up" in a dumbed-down vanilla 3-4 last year.

Guys that play the glory positions such as the Aldon Smith, Patrick Willis, Carlos Rogers, etc. will get the "stats" but I'm partial to the blue-collar guys such as Justin Smith, Isaac Sopoaga and Ahmad Brooks. Thanks for posting this article and here is to year 2 of Fangio's defense that should be more exotic and even more successful for Brooks overall!

Aside from leading the team in TFL plus 56 tackles (39 solo) he was also 3rd on the team with 8 sacks, 15 QB hits and 46 QB pressures.

Go Niners...

http://www.49erswebzone.com/forum/niners/166136-best-linebackers-in-the-game/

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/67870/a-surprise-choice-for-49ers-breakout-player#comments?login=-1&errors=Member+name+and+password+were+not+found.++Please+try+again

Originally posted by NCommand:
I'm sure you guys are sick of hearing from me on Brooks b/c I've been detailing him for years now but it's nice to finally see him get a real shot, make the most of it and is now getting his recognition esp. outside this board. Like Davis, he turned his life around.

As far as straight production last year, his first year as a starting SAM in the 3-4, I matched up his key stats with all of the 3-4 LB's and you can see, collectively, we have the best unit in football despite some outstanding individual play by other SAM's, TED's (Bowman), MIKE's (Willis) & WILL's (Aldon Smith).

Brooks, right out of the gate probably had the 2nd or at least 3rd best season of every single SAM 3-4 LB in the game last year and his ability to play every snap, play the run (he actually led the team in TFL which are just like sacks), seal the edge (containment), drop back in coverage (in zone or man-on-man), make tackles, and provide consistent QB hits/pressures and 8 (1 in the playoffs) sacks and 1 FF is at the top of the list for SAM linebackers and a big reason we locked him up long term. Now he is in the best shape of his career, has security to play balls out, has a coaching staff that believes in him and will be helped next year by Justin & Aldon Smith taking up some of the double-teams he got ALL last season, including the playoffs.

The SAM position is VERY different from the WILL position and I hope people recognize that (just look at the links/numbers I provided blow). If Brooks were to get low double-digit sacks from the QB's sight-side, that is the equivalent of Aldon getting high double-digit sacks from the QB's blind-side. Brooks is also exceptional at recognizing runs vs. pass as evidenced by TFL and QB pressures on QB's in the RZ that lead to quick throws and incompletions vs. TD's. He lines up on the strong side (usually where the TE lines up) and therefore, was constantly double-teamed last year and still produced 8 sacks, 50+ tackles, tops on the team in total QB pressures/sacks. That's remarkable for playing "straight up" in a dumbed-down vanilla 3-4 last year.

Guys that play the glory positions such as the Aldon Smith, Patrick Willis, Carlos Rogers, etc. will get the "stats" but I'm partial to the blue-collar guys such as Justin Smith, Isaac Sopoaga and Ahmad Brooks. Thanks for posting this article and here is to year 2 of Fangio's defense that should be more exotic and even more successful for Brooks overall!

Go Niners...

http://www.49erswebzone.com/forum/niners/166136-best-linebackers-in-the-game/

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/67870/a-surprise-choice-for-49ers-breakout-player#comments?login=-1&errors=Member+name+and+password+were+not+found.++Please+try+again

I'm not tired of it at all as I agree.

But a man with initials M and D may.

Originally posted by NCommand:
I'm sure you guys are sick of hearing from me on Brooks b/c I've been detailing him for years now but it's nice to finally see him get a real shot, make the most of it and is now getting his recognition esp. outside this board. Like Davis, he turned his life around.

As far as straight production last year, his first year as a starting SAM in the 3-4, I matched up his key stats with all of the 3-4 LB's and you can see, collectively, we have the best unit in football despite some outstanding individual play by other SAM's, TED's (Bowman), MIKE's (Willis) & WILL's (Aldon Smith).

Brooks, right out of the gate probably had the 2nd or at least 3rd best season of every single SAM 3-4 LB in the game last year and his ability to play every snap, play the run (he actually led the team in TFL which are just like sacks), seal the edge (containment), drop back in coverage (in zone or man-on-man), make tackles, and provide consistent QB hits/pressures and 8 (1 in the playoffs) sacks and 1 FF is at the top of the list for SAM linebackers and a big reason we locked him up long term. Now he is in the best shape of his career, has security to play balls out, has a coaching staff that believes in him and will be helped next year by Justin & Aldon Smith taking up some of the double-teams he got ALL last season, including the playoffs.

The SAM position is VERY different from the WILL position and I hope people recognize that (just look at the links/numbers I provided blow). If Brooks were to get low double-digit sacks from the QB's sight-side, that is the equivalent of Aldon getting high double-digit sacks from the QB's blind-side. Brooks is also exceptional at recognizing runs vs. pass as evidenced by TFL and QB pressures on QB's in the RZ that lead to quick throws and incompletions vs. TD's. He lines up on the strong side (usually where the TE lines up) and therefore, was constantly double-teamed last year and still produced 8 sacks, 50+ tackles, tops on the team in total QB pressures/sacks. That's remarkable for playing "straight up" in a dumbed-down vanilla 3-4 last year.

Guys that play the glory positions such as the Aldon Smith, Patrick Willis, Carlos Rogers, etc. will get the "stats" but I'm partial to the blue-collar guys such as Justin Smith, Isaac Sopoaga and Ahmad Brooks. Thanks for posting this article and here is to year 2 of Fangio's defense that should be more exotic and even more successful for Brooks overall!

Go Niners...

http://www.49erswebzone.com/forum/niners/166136-best-linebackers-in-the-game/

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/67870/a-surprise-choice-for-49ers-breakout-player#comments?login=-1&errors=Member+name+and+password+were+not+found.++Please+try+again

if anyone is sick of hearing how awesome one of the 49ers are they can GTFO!

Originally posted by 99problems:
if anyone is sick of hearing how awesome one of the 49ers are they can GTFO!

LOL! Good point...

Yea Brooks has turned out a lot better than I thought he would. But I'm not expecting him to bust out with too many more sacks than he normally averages. I think he's a 8-10 sack guy. Which is exactly what we need from him.

Ive always liked the guy. I really wanted to get him in the supp. draft but the Bengals gave a higher bid. Im glad we got him now though. I thought he was going to be a stud ILB but Im glad he is playing OLB.

Originally posted by lamontb:
Yea Brooks has turned out a lot better than I thought he would. But I'm not expecting him to bust out with too many more sacks than he normally averages. I think he's a 8-10 sack guy. Which is exactly what we need from him.

Agreed. Regular 7-9 sack guy with + potential for more. He will continue to free up the other three LB positions and DL, contain the run, be a sure-tackler, cover well and lead the team in TFL and provide a consistent pass rush and overall game.

PS: The "average" sacks a SAM got last year was 4.5. Brooks almost doubled that in his first year. No doubt Fangio feels this could end up being the best LB group he's ever coached! The sky is the limit for all four men.

Originally posted by Joecool:
I'm not tired of it at all as I agree.

But a man with initials M and D may.

Nice! LOL

Nice posts OP & NCommand.

I can't frigging wait for the season to start!