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sack attack Aldon Smith is closing fast on Michael Strahan’s singleseason sack record of 22.5. He has already reached 30 sacks faster than any other player (27 games), so it’s safe to call the Niners outside linebacker the best defensive player of 2012, right? Not so fast. We rounded up four expert opinions on the 6'4", 258-pound Smith. The verdicts varied as much as San Fran’s vaunted D-line stunts.
AN NFC SCOUT
“When we put together our first draft board in December 2010, we had Smith as the No. 1 player. He’s that talented. He can play as a stand-up outside linebacker or with his hand on the ground as a defensive end. He’s powerful enough to push a tackle right back into a QB, and he can blow around the edge with as much burst as anybody in
the league. The most amazing part of his game is how he uses his incredibly long arms to push away linemen and to prop himself up when guys go low at him. He’s able to keep himself up and moving. The only reason he didn’t start last season was inexperience; he came out of Missouri as a redshirt sophomore who had played just 22 games. The guy is a superstar.”
Aldon Smith is prolific and timely: Through 12 games, 7.5 of his 17.5 sacks had come in the fourth quarter or OT.
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KHALED ELSAYED, PRO FOOTBALL FOCUS “Hold on a minute. Yes, Smith is having a great year. But five of his sacks have come when he was either unblocked or cleaning up another player’s pressure. And in our metric measuring pass-rush productivity (sacks, hits and hurries divided by number of passing plays), Smith had generated 53 pressures on 368 opportunities through 12 games. That’s impressive output, but his 14.4% rate is only eighth in the NFL (Broncos OLB Von Miller is tops at 20.2%). The truth is, Smith isn’t great against the run and benefits enormously from playing alongside DT Justin Smith. So let’s reserve that defensive POY talk for Miller—or even the other Smith on the 49ers.”
mag minute Steve Smith Panthers wide receiver What is your hidden talent? I sing R&B in the bathroom. When I echo off the walls, it sounds good. What’s your most prized possession? My [signed] Joe Montana football—personalized for me. If you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be? Nelson Mandela. He was persecuted, but he showed patience and forgiveness. What place do you most want to visit? I want to ski in Switzerland. What’s the most embarrassing music you listen to? Country music. Brad Paisley.
BILL POLIAN, ESPN ANALYST/FORMER COLTS GM
KC JOYNER, ESPN’S FOOTBALL SCIENTIST
“I agree that it’s not a one-man show with the 49ers defense. Justin Smith represents maybe the single hardest player to find in all of football—the outstanding pass-rushing 3-4 end—and deserves a ton of credit. But Aldon has terrific length and speed, and he and J.J. Watt deserve to be the favorites for defensive POY. I’m especially amazed by Smith’s flexibility, which allows him to bend his body and bore into a lineman so much so that he can almost make a 90-degree turn around the corner to get to the QB. There’s no good way to deal with San Francisco’s defensive line.”
“Smith leans heavily on a limited bag of pass-rushing tricks. He has a fantastic bull rush, with a shoulder club and swim move to the inside. But that’s about it. Then again, does it matter? No one’s figured out how to stop Smith’s rush because of his mastery of the technique, his relentlessness and the presence of Justin Smith, who is a genius at constantly occupying (legally … most of the time) two blockers. That’s why Aldon Smith looks like a good bet to break Strahan’s record. And if that happens, it’s hard to imagine he won’t win—deservedly—NFL defender of the year.”
illustration by Chris gash E SPN The Maga zine 12/24/2012
GREG TROTT/AP IMAGES