Defensive Line

The strength of the San Francisco team is the front 7, building on a 2008 campaign where they didn’t get the credit they deserved. Along the defensive line, the standout performer has been Justin Smith, signed as an FA after hitting free agency two years ago. Smith had a stellar campaign in 2008 and is surpassing it this year, excelling at both rushing the passer (11 Quarterback hits thus far) and playing the run. Predominantly, Smith plays as the Right End in a 3-4 however he moves inside to play the role of a Defensive Tackle on nickel and dime packages. Next to Smith on the line is the Auburyo Franklin and although Franklin offers little in the way of pass rush (5 total pressures on 169 pass rushes), he has played run defense at an incredibly high level this season, allowing those around him to make plays. Franklin rarely comes out of the base defence, further demonstrating his importance to the 49ers, while he is second on the team with 26 defensive stops almost exclusively within 2-3 yards of the line of scrimmage. Isaac Sopoaga completes the starting defensive line and has improved significantly from his 2008 showing at Left End. His primary role as the LE is to hold at the point of attack and stop the run, which, similarly to Franklin, he is excelling at despite rarely getting into the backfield to hassle the Quarterback.

The primary backup on the defensive line is second year player Kentwan Balmer with Ray McDonald being used in nickel packages. Balmer is failing to live up to his first round potential thus far and will need to do more to earn more playing time (he has only accounted for 1 quarterback pressure despite 80 pass rushing attempts for example). As for McDonald he has performed moderately with Smith as his partner in nickel packages, with 13 total pressures including 2 sacks on 194 snaps.

Linebackers

The heartbeat of this franchise lies in Patrick Willis. Willis is the leader of this team and has been doing so by example with some exemplary performances. Willis leads all inside linebackers in our gradings, excelling in every area while amassing an incredible 64 tackles and 16 assists. The on-field leader has played more snaps than any other 49er defender and it’s not hard to see why. Takeo Spikes is relishing in his role lining up next to Willis. The veteran backer is on the field in base formations in the TED position and has been very effective against the run; he regularly makes fierce contact with fullbacks and any pulling guards, allowing Willis to do the damage with the ball-carrier. With these middle line-backers, and stout defensive line San Francisco has become a particularly hard team to run through the tackles on.

The weakness of the front 7 is the outside linebackers. Parys Harlason has been effective rushing the passer (22 pressures highlighting this), but he is let down by poor coverage skills and away too many penalties. San Francisco may do well to upgrade this position next year and use Haralson in a pure pass rushing role on third downs where he could flourish without wearing himself down as an every down player. Opposite Haralson is Manny Lawson, another first round pick on this defence that is struggling to impose himself in the NFL. Despite his incredible athletic ability and coverage skills, his pass-rushing has been average and ultimately, is not what San Francisco hoped they were getting when they drafted him.

The Niners have good depth at the linebacking position. Rookie Scott McKillop and veteran Matt Wilhelm have done well (Wilhelm especially in very limited action) when substituting for Takeo Spikes. Ahmad Brooks, a player with which the 49ers coaches have real hopes for, has contributed more and more as the season has gone on, adding some pass rush when replacing both outside linebackers. We’d be looking for his role to expand in the coming weeks.

Secondary

Losing Nate Clements to injury is a blow for the Niners. Despite negative reports and fans opinion (largely due to the 100 million dollar contract Clements received when leaving Buffalo), Clements is still a decent corner and particularly valuable when defending the run. Outside of a bad day against Atlanta (when the whole team practically took the day off) he was having a good season highlighted by shut-down performances against Houston and Arizona. Clements has been replaced by Tarell Brown, a talented corner, who has come in and done a good job in coverage so far, though is lightweight against the run in comparison to Clements. Brown will be looking to build on his performance against the Bears where he allowed only 3 completions on 7 throws and picked up an INT. Shawntae Spencer is the other starting cornerback, who has had a mixture of good and bad displays so far. He has made some important stops but has also been guilty of blown coverage assignments and missed tackles, and worryingly has regressed. He started the season off playing exceptionally well (against Arizona most notably) but has put in a number of poor performances since, especially against Indianapolis.

Former Lion and Bronco Dre Bly has been playing as the nickel back. He made the infamous blunder earlier in the season by celebrating far too early on a pick against the Falcons, only to have the ball stripped leaving Bly with egg on his face. Niners fans have been slow to forgive Bly for these antics and he hasn’t helped his cause with his performances since, as Bly has been penalised more than any other Niner defensive back.

Analysing the Safeties it is clear to see that this is where the real weakness of the San Francisco defence is, and suddenly makes the losses to Atlanta, Houston and Tennessee understandable. Dashan Goldson and Michael Lewis are the starters with Mark Roman also seeing plenty of snaps in nickel packages and in relief of Lewis when he’s been injured. Lewis is an experienced player in a young secondary and his performances have been acceptable if not particularly noteworthy but a long way off his displays on 2008. Goldson though has struggled, particularly in pass coverage, with his lack of speed and awareness exposed particularly in the aforementioned Atlanta and Tennessee games. The Niners continue to keep faith with Goldson, in the hope he can turn the corner and this is represented in him playing more snaps than any other Niner defender aside from Willis. Mark Roman is an experienced player who was demoted last year and has also struggled in pass coverage which for a guy who plays deep in nickel packages, is a big concern. This is a unit that will need an upgrade soon.

So there you have the Niners defense, a mixture of good and bad. The front seven is amongst the best in the league, perhaps an Outside Linebacker who can bring consistent pressure away from being an elite unit. The secondary was dealt a blow when Clements went down and as a whole has learned some tough lessons that you hope will make them better in the long run. The concern is though that the over reliance on Justin Smith for pass rush really highlights the flaws of the secondary, and there isn’t an obvious solution out there that could help the 49ers make the playoffs.

Agree with our assessments? Let us know on our Twitter Page @ ProFootballFocus or get in touch with the writer at Khaled.elsayed@profootballfocus.com