Resign Isaac Sopoaga???

We all know that our team needs to draft someone to replace Soap and J Smith eventually.....

But, Sopoaga will be a free agent now.

I tend to feel that Sopoaga is one of the main reasons we are stout against the run. A pure 2 - gap guy, often commanding double teams and he's one of the strongest DT there is in the league.

With his respectable salary of 4 mil per year (5 years / 20 mil with the previous contract), do you guys think we should bring him back for another 2-3 years?

Here's an article discussing:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1254626-san-francisco-49ers-nt-isaac-sopoaga-deserves-a-bumper-new-contract-after-2012

we can't just rely on a rookie to take over for NT next season, and Ricky Jean Francois, while servicable, isn't going to dominate the line.

For the right price I dont have a problem with the 49ers bringing him back. I hope that the Niners do draft Williams out of Alabama though.

I'm leaning more towards re-signing RJF for a 3 yr, 10 mil type of deal.

... but I wouldn't be at all unhappy if we re-sign Sopo for a 3 yr, 15 mil deal. (most of the guaranteed money upfront)

yah why not

Originally posted by ginseng1000:
We all know that our team needs to draft someone to replace Soap and J Smith eventually.....

But, Sopoaga will be a free agent now.

I tend to feel that Sopoaga is one of the main reasons we are stout against the run. A pure 2 - gap guy, often commanding double teams and he's one of the strongest DT there is in the league.

With his respectable salary of 4 mil per year (5 years / 20 mil with the previous contract), do you guys think we should bring him back for another 2-3 years?

Here's an article discussing:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1254626-san-francisco-49ers-nt-isaac-sopoaga-deserves-a-bumper-new-contract-after-2012

we can't just rely on a rookie to take over for NT next season, and Ricky Jean Francois, while servicable, isn't going to dominate the line.

No, no, no, and no.


Not sure where people get their misconceptions about this guy, he's one of the poorest run defending dt's in football, he's ranked near the bottom of NFL NT's. 49ers have some of the most dominant run-defenders in the NFL at their respective positions in Justin Smith, Willis, Bowman and McDonald. Soap is the only member of the front seven that is ranked poorly against the run. He's the biggest weak link on the defensive line and the one starter on the defense that absolutely needs to be replaced.



You think its a coincidence that this team struggles so much with physical runners going up the middle? The purpose of the NT in the 3-4 is to keep blockers off the linebackers and he doesn't do that. Last year he had a great year individually was still basically about average. I rank this team's need for a true starting NT first and foremost above all.

Sopoaga was one of the worst rated DT/NT's in the league this year. Between his age and production there's no doubt we need to let him walk. If nothing else, let RJF take over for him. He was really good against the run this year.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/01/01/free-agent-defensive-interior/

Here's a breakdown from PFF on the 49ers defense overall. These guys are awesome and go well beyond statistics, looking at the situation, at the quality of opponent, effectiveness per snap and on and on. They don't just look at tackles, they will look at where tackles are made, if you hit a guy after 1 or 2 yards or tackle him after 5 yards.


The site is subscription only but I'll hook you up. I'll also show you the numbers from last season to compare with.



Basically Ray McDonald and Tarell Brown are way underrated, Soap. Culliver and Whitner are overrated.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
Here's a breakdown from PFF on the 49ers defense overall. These guys are awesome and go well beyond statistics, looking at the situation, at the quality of opponent, effectiveness per snap and on and on. They don't just look at tackles, they will look at where tackles are made, if you hit a guy after 1 or 2 yards or tackle him after 5 yards.


The site is subscription only but I'll hook you up. I'll also show you the numbers from last season to compare with.



Basically Ray McDonald and Tarell Brown are way underrated, Soap. Culliver and Whitner are overrated.

So I see that the LB's all have good ratings against the run. Go ahead and tell me how that has nothing to do with Soap

I'm not saying that Soap is THE reason, nor is he the only one, but his play (taking up blockers) along with the others on the line makes life easier for our LB's as showed by your stat chart there.

Let me just say that I don't subscribe to that site and even if those stats are a direct reflection of plays that the player could have made themselves, the NT's job is to take up blockers in a 3-4 and let the others take the glory. So if he did have a chance to make a play and missed a tackle, I'm sure he wasn't too worried knowing 52 and 53 where right behind him.

Originally posted by SR49er:
So I see that the LB's all have good ratings against the run. Go ahead and tell me how that has nothing to do with Soap

I'm not saying that Soap is THE reason, nor is he the only one, but his play (taking up blockers) along with the others on the line makes life easier for our LB's as showed by your stat chart there.

Because they figure that into their numbers. This goes way beyond looking at stats and tackles. They ranked Soap as the 3rd worst starting DT/NT in the NFL. They specifically account for NT's holding up blockers and freeing up others to make plays.


Here is a snapshot of their top DT's/NT's ranked vs the rush in 2012.

Even if we let Soap walk, we still need to sign a veteran DT. Rookie DTs can be rotated but not full time starters.

Originally posted by ginseng1000:
Even if we let Soap walk, we still need to sign a veteran DT. Rookie DTs can be rotated but not full time starters.

Bring back Aubrayo Franklin, who is more of a natural NT.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
Because they figure that into their numbers. This goes way beyond looking at stats and tackles. They ranked Soap as the 3rd worst starting DT/NT in the NFL.

So what else goes into these numbers? I'm really curious.

To be fair, our D doesn't seem to go out of sync when RJF subs in for Soap, so he may be more dispensable than others think. I, for one, am undecided on him, but I like Soap.

Soap's snaps diminished this year and he even lost his job moonlighting as a fullback. Whether he returns or not may depend on how much attention Jean Francois gets on the free-agent market.

Originally posted by SR49er:
Let me just say that I don't subscribe to that site and even if those stats are a direct reflection of plays that the player could have made themselves, the NT's job is to take up blockers in a 3-4 and let the others take the glory. So if he did have a chance to make a play and missed a tackle, I'm sure he wasn't too worried knowing 52 and 53 where right behind him.

You're missing the point. All other NT's do the same thing, and he was one of the worst rated in the league at doing it.

Originally posted by Disp:
You're missing the point. All other NT's do the same thing, and he was one of the worst rated in the league at doing it.

This.....ding ding, one again, people's weird emotional attachment to players prevents them from seeing the reality of the situation. Those rankings identify the problems with the defense that people fully accept in terms of Whitner and Culliver but yet some want to make excuses for an NT that isn't even performing up to average standards for his position.


All NT's have the job of taking up blockers, Soap does it more poorly than most, being stopped by a single blocker a lot of the time. Justin Smith is the guy on the 49ers defense who takes up multiple blockers, and when he was injured, its no surprise that the pass rush went away and the front four fell apart.