Adam Schein's 9 most indispensable defensive players

[Largent80]

We are blessed. Thomas AND Sherman....wow.

 

[kearly]

Regarding the list itself:

-Clearly, the best defensive player in the NFL is JJ Watt.... and he doesn't make the top 18. As good as Atkins is, Watt is a tier above. And Atkins placed #1. I thought that maybe he left Watt off because he wanted to limit himself to one player per team, but he list two 49ers so there goes that theory. I don't get it.

-Scott, I now see what you mean regarding Brian Cushing.

-Charles Tillman might be more under-appreciated right now than Sherman was after 2011. He was arguably the best corner in the NFL last season but misses the list behind a guy that barely even played (Revis).

Other than those things, it's a good list. Though the exclusion of Watt pretty much invalidates the whole thing.

 

[Largent80]

Of course this is based on last year. It will be interesting to keep this in mind at least through the first 8 games or so.

 

[HawKnPeppa]

The thing about Thomas is that we don't actually know how irreplaceable he truly is because he's never missed a game. Chris Maragos runs in the 4.4s and if he replaced Thomas all we'd ask him to do is cover ground, he could probably manage that just fine, though not quite as well as Thomas would. Thomas plays a lynchpin position, but there is a chance that Maragos could handle it and be far from a disaster.

On the other hand, when Seattle lost Clemons last year our defense broke in half. The switch to Irvin appeared to create a domino effect in the front seven, and we realized just how important Clemons is to our defense.

So for me (in terms of being "irreplaceable"):

#1: Clemons
#2: Thomas
#3: Sherman

I agree with this...at least until we see how the FA aquisitions perform. i doubt any of them have Clemon's blend of pass rush and run stopping ability.

 

[NinerBuff]

incorrect... Sherman #1
Clemons #2
Thomas #3
Wagner #4
Red Bryant #5

Chancellor is a great enforcer and one of our best tacklers, but he is not very good in coverage, or at least he wasn't last year...

I'd say...
#1 Thomas (easily)
#2 Clemons (our only source for constant pass rush so far)
#3 Sherman
#4 Wagner (After next season he may be #2 or #3)
#5 Mebane

I guess from the Niners' perspective, Mebane hasn't been as big of a problem as Bryant or Chancellor. And I gave a slight advantage to Chancellor. In terms of Sherman, I just don't value a CB as highly as consistent pass rush. He is a very good corner, but I'd build from the front 7. Now, Thomas happens to be an elite talent and he has the ability to mask shortcomings from the remaining secondary and provide the passrush an additional split-second. So, even though Thomas goes against the "front 7" moniker, I think he'll be a Polamalu / Reed type. I just don't see a CB that has transcendent defensive value since Deion Sanders (including the vastly overrated Revis).

 

[formido]

I can't tell who is more important between ET and Sherman. Sophie's choice. Everyone here agrees ET is the best safety. For Sherman, I think he was clearly the best corner in the NFL last year. PFF had him as the best and equal to Revis's most recent season. While Sherman doesn't follow around the best receiver every game, it's true (I'm sure he'd love to!), Sherman's 80% cover rate is a lot higher than Revis's 60% rate in his most recent season:

http://presnapreads.com/2013/05/16/rich ... e-verdict/

In the one game where Sherman did follow around the best receiver, Stevie Johnson for the Bills, Revis and Sherman had the same cover rate. Sherman plays the side of the field QBs throw to the most and teams don't have the luxury of just throwing to a weak part of the secondary because there is no weak part of the secondary. Sherman's a better playmaker than Revis. If you read that link all the way through, it's clear that Sherman is brilliant at exploiting Seattle's scheme and opposing QBs to make plays and, crucially, enabling others to make plays also. Specific examples are given.

The Brady baiting, coming off his man to pick Bradford and seal that game, ad lib sack sack and fumble on Sanchez, returning the Niners blocked kick, the plays discussed in the link above...I remember Sherman making a lot of improvisational, pivotal plays last year that you just don't see guys making. And that's without gambling and sacrificing catches to his targets. If Sherman were out, I'd be pretty worried--I don't think anyone else on our team would come in and come close to duplicating Sherman's 80% cover rate. So, if Sherman and ET are both the best at their positions, can we really say one is more important than the other? Seems like it's within the margin of error to me.

 

[OkieHawk]

Keeping ET and Sherman is very important. We've already locked up Kam so I see Browner as the only possible casualty when the time comes. I'd hate to see him go though.