Comparing 49ers who left in free agency to their successors

Manny Lawson


First round pick. Heralded as a great pass rusher. Supposedly great at setting the edges and coverage (I never believed he was that great at either). Workout warrior - ran a great timed 40 and had no in-game speed.

Season stats: 9 tackles, 0 sacks, 3 passes defended (two of which came against the Broncos). He's not being used the same in the Bengals' defense presumably. Still, unimpressive considering he's still in a LB role, and it seems like he's never really sent on blitzes (or he is and he's just horrible at pass rushing, which we already knew).

Ahmad Brooks and Aldon Smith both play this position interchangeably, and both have better stats than Manny Lawson.

Brooks: 14 tackles, one sack, 3 passes defended, one "stuff" for five yards (not sure what ESPN considers a "stuff"...I assume it's a tackle for loss).
Smith: 7 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 1 pass defended.

No drop off there.

Nate Clements


18 tackles, no interceptions, 4 passes defended.

Carlos Rogers


13 tackles, 3 interceptions (tied for most in the league), one touchdown, 7 passes defended.

Just for fun: Chris Culliver, the nickle who is barely on the field, has 5 tackles, 1 interception, 3 passes defended.
Tarell Brown has 15 tackles, no interceptions and 6 passes defended (half of which are probably failed interceptions - Rogers must have transplanted his hands when he came from Washington).

You forgot to list Takeo Spikes vs Navarro Bowman.

Spikes has 37 total tackles, 1 sack, no forced fumbles

Bowman has 42 total tackles, 0 sacks, one fumble recovery

No drop off.

Pretty close in stats, but none of us expected Bowman to play as well as he has. We are not missing Spikes like I thought we would.

How about David Baas vs Jonathan Goodwin. I say no drop off there are well.

i hear manny lawson is doing good at cincy

they actually have one of the better defenses in football now too

Originally posted by DynastyPart2:
You forgot to list Takeo Spikes vs Navarro Bowman.

Spikes has 37 total tackles, 1 sack, no forced fumbles

Bowman has 42 total tackles, 0 sacks, one fumble recovery

No drop off.

Pretty close in stats, but none of us expected Bowman to play as well as he has. We are not missing Spikes like I thought we would.

How about David Baas vs Jonathan Goodwin. I say no drop off there are well.

I was worried about that as well, but Bowman and Willis seem like an incredible fit. Like playing together and each can play the run, pass or rush. Will be the best inside tandem in the NFL for years to come barring injuries.

Originally posted by 49ersalldaway126:
i hear manny lawson is doing good at cincy

they actually have one of the better defenses in football now too

Thats because their defense is basically what we started last year lol

Originally posted by DynastyPart2:
You forgot to list Takeo Spikes vs Navarro Bowman.

Spikes has 37 total tackles, 1 sack, no forced fumbles

Bowman has 42 total tackles, 0 sacks, one fumble recovery

No drop off.

Pretty close in stats, but none of us expected Bowman to play as well as he has. We are not missing Spikes like I thought we would.

How about David Baas vs Jonathan Goodwin. I say no drop off there are well.

And plus Bowman is racing P-Willy to the ball-carrier every play!

Originally posted by 49ersalldaway126:
i hear manny lawson is doing good at cincy

they actually have one of the better defenses in football now too

I'm actually glad to hear that. I always really liked Lawson and Clements. They wanted to be 49ers, but the new staff had other plans. No reason to hate those guys.

How about Franklin and Soap comparison? This is a good thread, unlike the alex smith is better than steve young thread.

I don't like your assesment of Manny Lawson. He was a solid player. He was improving in the pass rush department. But he did have GREAT in game speed. He would run guys down from behind all the time. He could also hold his own in coverage against almost any TE in the league.

With that said, I do think that Aldon Smith is an improvement. At that position, pass rushing skills are far more important than coverage skills.

Always loved spikes lawson and clements as niners! No homo intended lol, but i always felt they wasnt put in a position to use their strengths! But thei replacements bring more speed and if not better capabilitis. Loving our off season pick ups. And our draft pics! Harbaugh balke n company are doing a helluva job go niners! Goodwin was a huge upgrade as well for us.

Originally posted by niners4lyfe:

How about Franklin and Soap comparison? This is a good thread, unlike the alex smith is better than steve young thread.

Amen to that! Sopoaga seems to get more push then feanklyn and seems to be an improvement over aubryo. And for the alex n steve thread why would someone wanna even put that on alexs shouldwrs. We want alex to do well not put pressure of hall of fame on em! Gotta walk before we run here! On that note alex is doing well love to see it keep going and only get better. Alex is one tough son of a b***h. Lions here we come, goniners

Originally posted by niners4lyfe:
How about Franklin and Soap comparison? This is a good thread, unlike the alex smith is better than steve young thread.

I was never big on Franklin. He was good but not worth paying what he wanted or even close to it. Soapoaga is playing better at NT than Franklin was for us, RJF also had a very good game filling in.

Also Ray McDonald is playing way better than Soap ever did at DE. So instead of losing one good starter there, we gained two.

Originally posted by blm7754:
I don't like your assesment of Manny Lawson. He was a solid player. He was improving in the pass rush department. But he did have GREAT in game speed. He would run guys down from behind all the time. He could also hold his own in coverage against almost any TE in the league.

With that said, I do think that Aldon Smith is an improvement. At that position, pass rushing skills are far more important than coverage skills.

I'll never forget that INT lawson got, diving INt like he was a shutdown corner or something last year when tomsula was coaching (I think)

Originally posted by DynastyPart2:
You forgot to list Takeo Spikes vs Navarro Bowman.

Spikes has 37 total tackles, 1 sack, no forced fumbles

Bowman has 42 total tackles, 0 sacks, one fumble recovery

No drop off.

Pretty close in stats, but none of us expected Bowman to play as well as he has. We are not missing Spikes like I thought we would.

How about David Baas vs Jonathan Goodwin. I say no drop off there are well.

Agreed. Given how Bowman played last season, I didn't expect him to have the jump in production that he did. Also, Spikes played very well last season so I was concerned to have him leave.

I do think we miss Spikes' lockeroom and leadership presence though.

O honorable mention to david akers! Great signing, in filling the role of retired nedney. Nedney was the most accurate kicker in niner history