Dashon Goldson: The weakest link of the Niners defense

SANTA CLARA — I have a proposition for you. Let’s pause the never-ending Alex Smith debate and temporarily over-analyze something else.

We can always come back to Smith. If you’re not in the mood for an intermission though, who am I to boss you around? Do what makes you happy.

For those of you who are still with me – here’s my question: Who’s the weakest link on the Niners defense?

Yes, it’s a silly question. Clearly the weakest link is a good player – the Niners have the best defense in the NFL. But for the sake of argument, who’s the worst of Vic Fangio’s starters?

You could make the case for OLB Parys Haralson – he only plays with the base 3-4 defense and he doesn’t do a lot of stand-out things when he’s on the field.

You could also make the case for Tarell Brown. Defensive coordinators seem to think he’s the weak link the way test him every week.

But I’m going with the free safety, Dashon Goldson.

Before you yell at me through your computer, yes, I am aware that he’s picked off six passes this season and he’s a good player.

But as Niners Nation’s Tre9er pointed out to me on twitter, Goldson has only recorded one other “pass defensed” in addition to those picks, according to Pro Football Focus’ statistics.

Also according to PFF, quarterbacks have slightly over a 92 rating when throwing into Goldson’s coverage.

For reference, here’s how PFF ranks the 2011 performances of the Niners defensive players.

  1. Justin Smith
  2. Aldon Smith
  3. Ray McDonald
  4. PatrickWillis
  5. NaVorro Bowman
  6. Carlos Rogers
  7. Donte Whitner
  8. Larry Grant
  9. Ahmad Brooks
  10.  Isaac Sopoaga
  11. Tarell Brown
  12.  Parys Haralson
  13.  Chris Culliver
  14.  Dashon Goldson

Obviously Pro Football Focus isn’t the end-all, be-all authority on this issue. Who would you say is the weakest link on the Niners defense?

Also, Dashon Goldson will be a free agent this offseason. If you were Trent Baalke, would you offer him more than the league average for a free safety?

This article has 1 Comment

  1. It was nice reading this post. I will suggest writing more posts like this, Now I would like to highlight our services. Please visit our site for more details. Appconsultio is the best mobile app development company in Pune

    Appconsultio is a well-known and reliable mobile application development firm in Pune. We offer a number of services to help and support customers in any way we can. It also incorporates user-friendly digital methods, which are necessary for all enterprises.
    Appconsultio promotes itself as the top mobile app development company in Pune by assisting its clients in growing their businesses at a reasonable cost. We have included key components in each app that will help us reach our objectives.
    Our primary goal is to provide great, personalized services while resolving consumer complaints as promptly as possible.

    https://www.appconsultio.com/

Comments are closed.