Justin Smith #17 on top 100

Originally posted by cashmahne:
17 is a very good ranking... but the man should be #3 behind Rodgers and Brees.

You....are correct, sir... There certainly are not 16 better players in the NFL than Justin Smith.

He made it look easy last year. I haven't seen a DLman dominate like he did in a long time. Top 5 player at least.

Originally posted by IdahoNiner:
haha yea he totally called him a hater "Your such a hater Jamie"

Is there a clip of this? Id like to see this.

I think Justin is the best, most tenacious, never quit on a play player on this team. I think Willis,Bowman,Aldon Smith all end up in the top 20 next year.

Originally posted by IdahoNiner:
Best 3-4 DE in the league IMO. His motor never stops. One of the best FA signings in 49ers history.

yes..props to Nolan, bad coach, but a he left a solid imprint on our present roster as a whole

gore, alex, davis, raymac, goldson, willis (though i think i ready mcloughan lobbied for him), walker, soap..

hell probably make a good front office guy someday

Originally posted by BayArea:

Originally posted by drunk49er:
there's also the part where he's the best at a much more valuable position than middle linebacker. love me some willis, but great passrushers are at a premium these days and if i had a choice i'd take demarcus.

sorry to rain on your homer parade

Like we don't already have our set of pass rushers. Personally I do the opposite of what you said. You let Willis walk and take Demarcus? s**t we got a rookie draft pick that will wind up beating him out in the long run. Meanwhile Willis is Joe Montana style once in a lifetime type player.

Rain on my "homer" (whatever the f**k that means) parade all you want just glad you aren't the one making decisions for this franchise.

Bowman.

Originally posted by Ether:

Originally posted by BayArea:

Originally posted by drunk49er:
there's also the part where he's the best at a much more valuable position than middle linebacker. love me some willis, but great passrushers are at a premium these days and if i had a choice i'd take demarcus.

sorry to rain on your homer parade

Like we don't already have our set of pass rushers. Personally I do the opposite of what you said. You let Willis walk and take Demarcus? s**t we got a rookie draft pick that will wind up beating him out in the long run. Meanwhile Willis is Joe Montana style once in a lifetime type player.

Rain on my "homer" (whatever the f**k that means) parade all you want just glad you aren't the one making decisions for this franchise.

Bowman.

not on willis's level, at least not yet..i wonder what his potential is, imagine our defense this year if he starts to make their distinction a little blurry

Good spot for his first time on ranking

Originally posted by niners9:

Good spot for his first time on ranking

Such a shame it's his first time.

Originally posted by BayAreaNinersFan:

Originally posted by Ether:

Originally posted by BayArea:

Originally posted by drunk49er:
there's also the part where he's the best at a much more valuable position than middle linebacker. love me some willis, but great passrushers are at a premium these days and if i had a choice i'd take demarcus.

sorry to rain on your homer parade

Like we don't already have our set of pass rushers. Personally I do the opposite of what you said. You let Willis walk and take Demarcus? s**t we got a rookie draft pick that will wind up beating him out in the long run. Meanwhile Willis is Joe Montana style once in a lifetime type player.

Rain on my "homer" (whatever the f**k that means) parade all you want just glad you aren't the one making decisions for this franchise.

Bowman.

not on willis's level, at least not yet..i wonder what his potential is, imagine our defense this year if he starts to make their distinction a little blurry

Bowman is key, having two rangy LB's at a top level and the line we have... there just isnt any running against them. I also think Aldon is gonna shut allot of media up who say he is just a sack specialist. His forte is keeping the defender off him with those long arms and then shooting through the opening for the sack... exact same thing needed from an OLB in the run game.

Originally posted by niners94:

Originally posted by niners9:
Good spot for his first time on ranking

Such a shame it's his first time.

that's why i don' like these rankings....u mean to tell me in 2010 Justin Smith couldn't crack the top 100?? HE MADE THE PRO BOWL IN 2009 & 2010.....

Originally posted by IdahoNiner:



This play alone should have secured him top ten. Favorite Niner currently on the roster, and IMO the most important player on this team.

This play should put him in the HOF, lol! Justin had two game winning plays last year (FF vs PHI and knock down vs NY), but I think this was his best play last year—not the biggest but the best. It just shows his absolute dominance.

Originally posted by tmpluff:

Originally posted by IdahoNiner:

Originally posted by pasodoc9er:

Well, the picking squad is a bit weird to say the least, but it is really nice to see Justin acknowledged by his peers (or whoever else) as being one of the top 17 players in the league. If I'm picking, he is best 1 DL in the league. Anyway, congrats, and well deserved. Question is when did he really catch fire, and i would have to say with the arrival of Coach H. Not that he wasn't great before, but if you are on a losing team, no matter how great, people tend to overlook you. So Coach did have a hand in it.

Dude has been the best player on Defense since he arrived. Willis is just in a higher profile position. I love me some willis and almost everybody else on the defense, but Justin has been the best since he arrived.

Both Studs, But I'll Agree to Disagree with this statement!!! Outside of 2011 I think Willis has been the better player

Justin Smith has been the best player on this team for the last 2 years. Before that, it was Willis. On this board, however, Willis will always get more love because of the nature of their respective positions and because Willis was drafted by the team.

Justin should have been top 5 and rated higher than Willis, in my opinion. However, we tend to forget that this list is a projection of who the best players will be NEXT YEAR, not who the best players were in 2011. In that respect, it's not unfathomable to say Willis will be better next year given the fact that he is so good and has youth on his side.

ALL DONE, Justin, p52, Bowman...man it makes it hard not to include all those guys. The Wall Street Journal, which virtually never runs a full color page on sports, published the article "Now that's a Defense", the day after we lost to NYG. Those guys on the E coast and elsewhere just had no idea exactly how good our D was. If our guys play up to last yr's performance, I look for more of them to show up on top 20 to top 10. It looks like there is a "lag" yr between making this list and when it comes out. By all rights Justin should have been on there last yr. The NFC title game surprised a bunch of folks around the league, and introduced them to some incredible talent. We'll see more of our guys in print as the yr goes on. Considering we virtually had one hand tied behind our backs on O, and still damn near beat the NYG...well, that showed a lot of E coasters that this team is legit, and will win the SB this yr. No point on going if you don't win it all.

Originally posted by ghostrider:

This play should put him in the HOF, lol! Justin had two game winning plays last year (FF vs PHI and knock down vs NY), but I think this was his best play last year—not the biggest but the best. It just shows his absolute dominance.

My favorite play of the year. You just don't see plays like that very often... at least since Reggie White retired.

Originally posted by Hitman49:

Originally posted by niners94:

Originally posted by niners9:

Good spot for his first time on ranking

Such a shame it's his first time.

that's why i don' like these rankings....u mean to tell me in 2010 Justin Smith couldn't crack the top 100?? HE MADE THE PRO BOWL IN 2009 & 2010.....

My thoughts exactly.