SANTA CLARA — First it was the quarterback. Then it was wide receiver. Now? It’s inside linebacker.
Justifiably, the way the 49ers (1-5) were constructed in the offseason is being picked apart. The team did not add one free agent, or one draft pick to their inside linebacking unit. Months later, the entire team is paying the price.
Maybe it’s unfair to criticize GM Trent Baalke for a rash of injuries to NaVorro Bowman and Ray-Ray Armstrong. Losing a Pro Bowler and a promising young talent like Armstrong would devastate any defense. Nobody anticipated both Nick Bellore and Michael Wilhoite on the field together at the same time.
But facts are facts: When you allow 312 yards rushing to the Buffalo Bills and are starting recycled special teamers in the middle of your defense, somebody has to be held accountable.
“You’re are dealing with Wilhoite and Bellore, who by NFL standards at inside linebacker are slow,” NFL Films’ Greg Cosell told KNBR. “This is a slow defense and it’s hard to play in the NFL when your defense is slow.”
Three respected free agent inside linebackers from this past offseason include Brandon Marshall, Danny Trevathan, Jerrell Freeman. Here are the contracts they were dished out.
Marshall — 4-years, $32 million ($20 million guaranteed, re-signed with Broncos)
Trevathan — 4-years, $24.5 million ($12 million guaranteed, signed with Bears)
Freeman — 3-years, $12 million ($6 million guaranteed, re-signed with Bears).
So more logically, Baalke should’ve signed one of these linebacker to pair with Bowman. Is stopping the run worth $20 million while you let $43 million sit untouched in the bank? Of course it is.
Marshall and Trevathan are no Patrick Willis, but they are solid, established football players who would’ve upgraded the middle of the defense without question. Left guard Zane Beadles was the only starter the 49ers added via free agency. A move like this isn’t chasing a quarterback Robert Griffin III or a lightly proven wide receiver in Marvin Jones. It would’ve been preventing what the 49ers are currently going through.
The NFL Draft is a crapshoot and it’s harder to blame Baalke here. Not only was the talent thin at the position, but what rookie could walk in and save this defense? Middle round draft picks are rarely instant contributors and the only top-tier player from the draft class was Alabama’s Reggie Ragland, whom the Bills took in the first round.
Remember that long, drawn-out, three-way linebacking battle in training camp? One source said it became clear that the competition was used as a motivational tactic for the 25-year-old Armstrong — who was leaps and bounds better than both Wilhoite and Gerald Hodges in practice. Those two were not really in the plans for 2016, unless there were devastating injuries.
Welp, here we are. Leaning on Armstrong’s development was a lapse in judgement.
The deck Baalke and defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil stacked at the position has come crashing down. The team thought cornerback was a much bigger need than inside linebacker, drafting both Will Redmond and Rashard Robinson (the latter has been a great selection). In a next-man-up league, the 49ers left themselves zero margin for injury at linebacker.
I asked O’Neil if he was comfortable with the position heading into the season.
“No I mean I was,” O’Neil said. “I thought that obviously going into it with NaVorro. And we felt really good about Ray-Ray Armstrong, Wilhoite, Gerald Hodges. But when you lose two guys at any position, it’s tough. That’s the NFL. Nobody’s sending us sorry cards, Get Well Soon. We just got to go.”
O’Neil’s scheme has notoriously been linked to being not able to stop the run — something Baalke should’ve been more aware of as he built the 49ers this offseason.
This isn’t as glaring as starting an NFL season with Blaine Gabbert at quarterback, or having Jeremy Kerley as your top playmaker. Bad luck bit the 49ers at the inside linebacking position.
But they certainly had the cap space and draft pick flexibility to try and shore up what many thought was a questionable position to begin with.