The numbers don’t lie, as they say, and the numbers speak loud and clear about the impact that San Francisco 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith is making on the football field each and every week. Increasingly, the former Missouri Tiger is making his presence felt on the outside and the team’s most recent game against the Detroit Lions featured his loudest statement to date with two sacks and a forced fumble.
With a bye week, the team should have had even more time to figure out how to get Smith in the mix. Pro Football Focus’s Nathan Jahnke says he gave the Detroit Lion’s Jeff Backus fits all day, and that will likely be the same story again and again all year.
Jahnke writes that Smith has provided a great tandem with Ahmad Brooks. “The two have combined for eight sacks, five hits and 27 pressures, and while Brooks’ penalty count (six) is too high, this unit has actually managed to get more productive. Smith is one to keep an eye out on in particular after his breakout game against the Lions. He tormented Jeff Backus all throughout the game as the Lions three receiver set saw him on the field for a career high 63 snaps. While they might not be superstars like the four other mentioned players, they are doing their jobs very well.”
As Smith continues to learn the rest of the game and the defensive playbook, you can expect him to be on the field even more. Suddenly that No. 7 draft choice in April looks like the player transaction the 49ers made this off-season.