At the end of the season, the 9ers defense will be rated - in overall pass and run:

49erphan · 2017-06-16T14:01:58-07:00

I was reading http://ninerswire.usatoday.com/2017/06/16/the-5-most-interesting-storylines-from-49ers-offseason-program/3/. In the article Chris Biderman says: The 49ers defense in 2016 dealt with a perfect of storm of factors that led to one of the worst seasons in franchise history. There were a slew of injuries to key players, the offense was unable to stay on the field and the two-gap scheme was a bad fit for personnel. Now San Francisco is remaking its identity on that side of the ball starting with the defensive front. It's a simplified approach that should put the club's most talented players in better situations. DeForest Buckner, for example, won't have to read and react. He'll be using his size and strength to penetrate off the snap with essentially four linebackers behind him, counting Reid at strong safety playing in the box. Buckner is noticeably bigger and stronger than last season and could quickly become on of the league's best young linemen. Add a healthy Arik Armstead, who was one of the NFL's best pass rushers from the interior last season, Solomon Thomas, Reuben Foster, a healthy NaVorro Bowman, Elvis Dumervil and free agent Earl Mitchell (who's been one of the most underrated players on the practice field in the early going) and all signs are pointing to the 49ers improving – perhaps dramatically – in 2017. The players really seem to like and appreciate Saleh and so far he seems to know what he is doing. I don't think it's being overly optimistic to think this defense could end up getting quite a bit better really fast. Maybe I have my fan blinders on but I think there's a good chance the 9ers defense could end up rated overall in the 6 - 10 range. If not, I don't think they'll be lower than the middle 15-16 range. So what do you think? I am being overly optimistic?

Top 5

6 - 10

11 - 15

16 - 20

21 - 25

26 -32

Jun 16, 2017 at 2:46 PM

pelos21
Veteran
Posts: 7,750

Top 10 in run D and top 20 in pass D.

Jun 16, 2017 at 7:31 PM

pasodoc9er
Veteran
Posts: 21,040

Full homer mode....top 5 in run D, and that causes top 20 in pass D. The DBs still are the ones i just don't have any feel for. I know who is supposed to do what , but just have no feel for what they actually will do. If our D does have a top 5 finish, then our pass D will be brot along even if they are just semi mediocre. Now, if DBs suddenly catch fire, and the talent that some feel is there...actually is...then incr the pass D to top 15. That wouldn't be half bad....5 / 15 . Yeah, i could live with that all day long.

Jun 16, 2017 at 7:39 PM

RishikeshA
Veteran
Posts: 12,720

Elvis could be the major beneficiary of the young talented D-Line.

Jun 16, 2017 at 8:16 PM

eastcoast49ersfan
Veteran
Posts: 4,112

I think we'll finish in the 22-28 range. Our defense is definitely improved from last season, but our offense is not. The problem with our defense is that our offense is going to keep giving up the ball on 3 and outs. That's enough to make a middle of the pack defense fall into the bottom 10 of the league.

We should be improved from the worst run defense in the league, but we're still not a top 10 run defense. A lot will probably depend on how quickly Foster gets up to speed, because our linebackers sucked in coverage last season. We'll still have a mediocre-bad pass rush and a secondary with mediocre safeties and no real shutdown corners. 2-3 years from now, I can see us having a pretty good defense once we add talent in the secondary, especially if our defensive line reaches their potential.

I'm not picking the 49ers defense in fantasy football drafts any time soon.

Jun 16, 2017 at 8:18 PM

ninerfan4life
Veteran
Posts: 26,916

Top 10 defense overall

Home

Forum

Niner Talk

At the end of the season, the 9ers defense will be rated - in overall pass and run: