Does Aubrayo Franklin suck now?

I've seen teams run the ball a lot easier on us and I haven't seen Aubrayo make the stops or collapse the pocket like he normally does. At times I'd rather see Ricky Jean Francois in there to see what he can do. It's only fair since he was there all summer and he actually looked good against first team offenses in the preseason. In any case I don't think we should break the bank for Aubrayo.

I don't know yet, but he sure isn't playing like he wants a new contract.

I think Manny Lawson is beating AF for a new contract.

he had ONE good season. ONE!!! I'm glad we didn't give him some huge contract based on that.

Originally posted by SybErkRimInAL:
he had ONE good season. ONE!!! I'm glad we didn't give him some huge contract based on that.

yep.

Basically last year was his contract year...and he played like it. Then he got franchised (which I suppose was disappointing for him), and now he has another contract year to play up to, and he isn't as into it.

So if the Niners had given him a new contract, you'd probably be seeing a similar down year from him.

That basically tells you all you need to know about him.

ricky jean is now my lover

Tough choices. But to be honest, he is, has been and always will be a one-gap NT that relies on quickness and shooting the correct gap. Teams have probably watched tape on him and I wouldn't be surprised if he shoots the same gap every time. O-linemen are literally just riding him out of the play and getting to second level (ask Willis who now is just average). Last year I pointed out that despite a good run defense, we were still something like 17th at stopping the run up the middle. This was masked b/c of Spikes/Willis and the OLB's keying in on the run (since the can't pass rush). He is NOT your wide-bodied 340+ pound NT who can occupy two blockers inside on every play (clog up the middle) AND push the pocket making it difficult for a QB to step up. I mentioned that his no-show would prove one thing - RJF is the same type of player and that Franklin is totally expendable. The difference is that Franklin got paid 7+ million, got to take camp off and has experience in our defense. RJF is younger, has more energy, more drive and seems hungry. Finding 300 pound one-gap NT's is easy. Finding a real NT to anchor your 3-4 is a little harder. It all starts with philosophy!

[ Edited by NCommand on Oct 13, 2010 at 14:39:08 ]

Originally posted by SybErkRimInAL:
he had ONE good season. ONE!!! I'm glad we didn't give him some huge contract based on that.

Agree. He's starting to remind me of Dana Stubblefield.

Thats why you dont pay people off of one good season. We got Ricky Jean plus a draft.

Lawson is outplaying him by far but we have no chance of keeping him b/c a team with playoff potential will pay him a bunch of money. And I mean real potential, not 49er potential.

it doesn't seem like he's playing as well as he did last year, and i think NT is a major need this offseason. but the way he is playing, his price will drop significantly--I'd assume--from what he could have earned last year, so he might be worth keeping around.

but until he starts playing better, I'm pretty ambivalent about keeping him around.

Originally posted by NCommand:
Tough choices. But to be honest, he is, has been and always will be a one-gap NT that relies on quickness and shooting the correct gap. Teams have probably watched tape on him and I wouldn't be surprised if he shoots the same gap every time. O-linemen are literally just riding him out of the play and getting to second level (ask Willis who now is just average). Last year I pointed out that despite a good run defense, we were still something like 17th at stopping the run up the middle. This was masked b/c of Spikes/Willis and the OLB's keying in on the run (since the can't pass rush). He is NOT your wide-bodied 340+ pound NT who can occupy two blockers inside on every play (clog up the middle) AND push the pocket making it difficult for a QB to step up. I mentioned that his no-show would prove one thing - RJF is the same type of player and that Franklin is totally expendable. The difference is that Franklin got paid 7+ million, got to take camp off and has experience in our defense. RJF is younger, has more energy, more drive and seems hungry. Finding 300 pound one-gap NT's is easy. Finding a real NT to anchor your 3-4 is a little harder. It all starts with philosophy!

Excellent observation..Spot on

I think teams just aren't worried about him as much and are more worried about Patrick Willis.

Also, Willis has been over playing a lot of plays and running himself out of the play or right into the block.

Franklin wasn't assigned to 2-gap and Philly used the plan to slam/slant him against us with the Guard paying no attention to him. If this is the case than we need to stop doing this or get a bigger/stronger NT.

It almost seems as though no one trusts one another. On that TD run by the Eagles, Willis should have kept his gap and stuffed or tried to stuff the Guard closing the hole. Justin Smith was blocked into the ground just as he lunged for the RB. If Willis closes that up as he was assigned to, Smith would have been at the RB's feet and other Goldson or the ROLB would have come to clean it up.

I think we are all trying to hard to make too many plays and need to trust the assignments.

Originally posted by DaveWilcox:

Originally posted by NCommand:
Tough choices. But to be honest, he is, has been and always will be a one-gap NT that relies on quickness and shooting the correct gap. Teams have probably watched tape on him and I wouldn't be surprised if he shoots the same gap every time. O-linemen are literally just riding him out of the play and getting to second level (ask Willis who now is just average). Last year I pointed out that despite a good run defense, we were still something like 17th at stopping the run up the middle. This was masked b/c of Spikes/Willis and the OLB's keying in on the run (since the can't pass rush). He is NOT your wide-bodied 340+ pound NT who can occupy two blockers inside on every play (clog up the middle) AND push the pocket making it difficult for a QB to step up. I mentioned that his no-show would prove one thing - RJF is the same type of player and that Franklin is totally expendable. The difference is that Franklin got paid 7+ million, got to take camp off and has experience in our defense. RJF is younger, has more energy, more drive and seems hungry. Finding 300 pound one-gap NT's is easy. Finding a real NT to anchor your 3-4 is a little harder. It all starts with philosophy!

Excellent observation..Spot on

Thank you!

Originally posted by GoldenIowa49er:
ricky jean is now my lover

Originally posted by susweel:

Originally posted by GoldenIowa49er:
ricky jean is now my lover

how did i miss that.