I've been hearing some talk that with the drafting of Aldon Smith, the niners will be parting ways with at least one of the OLBs they have in rotation:

Manny Lawson
Travis Laboy
Ahmad Brooks
Parys Haraslon

None of these guys have been extremely successful in their own right, but I'm wondering how much that has to do with the 49ers system or through fault of their own? Manny Lawson and Travis Laboy are free agents this off-season and may be worth looking at. What do you all think?

Just a thought that without having drafted an OLB,it might be worth looking into some free agent defensive ends that have the potential to be converted into 3-4 OLBs. There doesn't seem to be many free agent 3-4 OLBs so this might be a better route. Some interesting ones:

Cliff Avril, Lions - 6'3" 260
2010 - 8.5 sacks, 13 games, 13 GS
2009 - 5.5 sacks, 13 games, 11 GS
2008 - 5.0 sacks, 15 games, 4 GS

Wallace Gilberry, Chiefs - 6'2" 268
2010 - 7.0 sacks, 16 games, 2 GS
2009 - 4.5 sacks, 16 games, 0 GS


Charles Johnson, Panthers - 6'2" 275
2010 - 11.5 sacks, 16 games, 16 GS
2009 - 4.0 sacks, 13 games, 2 GS
2008 - 6.0 sacks, 16 games, 0 GS

Dave Ball, Titans - 6'5" 255
2010 - 7.0 sacks, 11 games, 11 GS
2009 - 0.0 sacks, 11 games, 1 GS
2008 - 4.5 sacks, 15 games, 3 GS


Ray Edwards, Vikings - 6'5"
2010 - 8.0 sacks, 14 games, 14 GS
2009 - 8.5 sacks, 16 games, 16 GS
2008 - 5.0 sacks, 15 games, 15 GS

The more I think about it, the more nervous I get about potential holes in our team next year, seeing how it's never too early to start thinking about the draft...

Running backs: Nobody knows how much LT's got left in the tank. Joe McKnight has been unimpressive, and we can hardly depend on Greene being an every-down back without a change-of-pace guy.

Wide receiver: If we resign Braylon and Santonio, we're golden. But if we don't, this might be something worth looking into.

O-Line: It's hard to tell how far along Ducasse is in developing so far, but with the right side of our line getting old, we might need to take care of that sooner than later.

D-Line: With Jenks sure as done, and Pouha/Ellis as aging run stoppers at this point, this requires urgent attention in my opinion, especially at NT. Who's to say we wouldn't be pressuring the QB more effectively if we had a young threat at NT to collapse the line, like we were looking to Jenks to do?

Linebackers: WE NEED MORE PRESSURE. Imo they're not getting it done, and it doesn't help that their middle-of-the-field coverage abilities aren't stellar. I'm not saying that we should pick up a cover LB, only that if we put more heat on the QB then coverage wouldn't be a problem in the first place.

Safeties: Also relates to middle-of-the-field coverage problems. Leonard is an amazing leader and is the brains of the defense, I'm just not sure he should be out there on every play. Poole's been iffy in coverage. Looks like we could use a cover safety.

Does anyone really understand the logic of the decision to retain McKnight over Washington? Do you agree with the decision? After all the criticism he received from Rex, and after being outplayed by Washington, was he given weight simply because he is a rookie? I can't even argue that he'll be used as a returner, since it seems like he won't even be on the active roster. Please offer any insight you might have.

It appears that Mangold is looking for security in his role on the Jet's, probably due to the cutting of Faneca.

I say we waste no time in extending his contract 5+ years. If we don't, chemistry-wise it could be the straw that broke the camel's back. I can't say I really understand the rules that would influence this. Do you think the front office is going to give it to him?