Aubrayo Franklin?

[Joshecalpoly]

Yup He's a Saint now.


Aubrayo Franklin may have visited the 49ers on Monday.

But the free-agent nose tackle isn't making a return visit.

After four seasons in San Francisco, Franklin agreed to one-year contract with the Saints today, ESPN reported. Financial terms were not disclosed.

There had been optimism that the Niners might be able to re-sign the 317-pound run stuffer after the initial free-agent market for interior defensive lineman failed to yield huge paydays.

Franklin, 30, reportedly met with the Niners on Monday, but he quickly followed by signing with New Orleans.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/...#ixzz1Tuv7v7CA

Honestly I expected them not to pay him a lot because reports over the weekend had them saying that they believed if they needed to they were ready to move on with his former backup. Which is why it surprised me in the first place that this morning we got reports saying he was going to be a 9er

[Garywolf001]

Yup He's a Saint now.


Aubrayo Franklin may have visited the 49ers on Monday.

But the free-agent nose tackle isn't making a return visit.

After four seasons in San Francisco, Franklin agreed to one-year contract with the Saints today, ESPN reported. Financial terms were not disclosed.

There had been optimism that the Niners might be able to re-sign the 317-pound run stuffer after the initial free-agent market for interior defensive lineman failed to yield huge paydays.

Franklin, 30, reportedly met with the Niners on Monday, but he quickly followed by signing with New Orleans.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/...#ixzz1Tuv7v7CA

[Joshecalpoly]

That is weird I got articles sent to me saying that talks had stopped between him and other teams except the 9ers. I wonder where that rumor came from, its hard to believe it had any impact its just a weird set of events.

[BroncoFanBoy]

He's a Saint now.

[dukes88]

I would have really liked to see him as a Bronco... Good pickup for the Saints (a simple one year contract) for one of the best round stoppers in the league. Mistake not signing him.

[johnlimburg]

I have a feeling ayers will justify being a first round pick this season. He won't put up dumervil numbers but I think he will get it in.

I hope he does and think he will

[HUMCALC]

Completely wrong here.

A RB actually helps stop the run better than investing more in a DT becuase the easiest way to stop an offense is to not let them have the ball. If McFadden is only able to rush it 15 times, becuase we have long, time consuming drives, not only is he going to rush for less yards, but rush les successfully. Fresh legs on defense constantly, making the other team play from behind with limited time, all caused by a dominant rush attack.

The more weapons you can add to mix up that backfield the better.

A RB compliments the DL, but it doesn't replace it. On our team we're revamping the running game (yet again) while SD, OAK, & KC all know their system, so we're behind the 8-ball there. If we just rely on a new running game as part of our D, we're not going to be as successful as if we had a quality DL

[Hoserman117]

I think we should stay away from old players in free agency completely, that includes Aubrayo Franklin. Overall I think one of the biggest reasons we're not landing FA's is because we plain suck. All these FA's are either getting overpaid (Washington), going back to their original teams (Panthers, Hawks), or went to big name teams (Eagles) that are contenders.

We're not at that level yet. The interior of our line isn't going to be the greatest, but it's going to be surrounded by some great young talent. Fox left that Carolina defense with arguably the best group of young LB's in the NFL and a premier DE, and young talent all over the place. He's a good defensive coach and will hopefully leave most of the offense to his assistants.

I also do agree with the concerns of taking Miller over Dareus, but he's reportedly been looking great in camp both as a pass rusher and in coverage. We got a day one super talented starter who has reportedly looked exceedingly well through the first few days of camp. I can't complain about that just yet, despite the fact that we are extremely thin at DT.

Overall though, we've had defenses that dominated the run that lacked any semblance of a good DT, and at that point we were always saying how we needed a good DT so that they could collapse the pocket and force the QB's out to the DE's for sacks since we were so bad against the pass for many years. That leaves me confident that we can be effective against the run with the guys we have and maybe 1-2 more, and then rely on Dumervil and Miller for the outside pressure, and Vickerson for some solid inside pressure since he is in fact a pure disruptor rather than a run defender.

All in all, I'm happy about where the team is going long term. We have a very talented and young offensive line, and a good core of young players on defense. The one thing that will make or break this team is how Tebow progresses, not how many FA DT's we sign in the 2011 off-season. I don't expect a great season right now, but a Tampa Bay ish 10-6 season is possible, and I expect us to be good in 2-3 years.

[Cugel]

tommie harris?? injury proned= yes. but he's had a longer offseason to recover lol. i think we should take a shot @ signing him.

He's really struggled with the Bears and lost his starting job. DTs do wear down from all the pounding they take and can suddenly look very old.

I think Tommie Harris is just done the way Jamal Williams was done and bringing him here just means bringing in a guy who USED to be great - 5 years ago.

I remember years ago when Shanahan cut DT Michael Dean Perry during the middle of the season. He just wore out -- seemingly suddenly running out of gas like a car and not doing his job. And one of his teammates said: "at any other position you're a player, but at DT you're just a man." The body can only take so much abuse and can wear out on a guy.

[Cugel]

It's my opinion that this team needs run-stopping focused DTs more so then penetrating ones. We are going to have the playmakers at DE and OLB to apply pressure. We desperately need guys who can simply hold ground, clog up running lanes, and if they apply pressure sparingly that's icing on the cake. It's my view of things, and I think it's reasonable.

I'm becoming really worried with this ownership. This would have been the perfect FA period to really turn the tide on defense. According to Clayton, the salary cap floor doesn't kick in until 2013. I'm not sure if there is some sort of part to that statement that is off or he his alluding to some different aspect (perhaps percentage of salary cap - he mentioned 89, I've heard 99 this year). But either way, if that's the case that there is no salary cap floor, it leads me to believe that the Broncos ownership is in as much financial dire straights as we have been led to believe.

If we could have landed 2 starting-quality DTs, this defense would have instantly been transformed. Instead, we face the possibility of going into the season with what I think will end up being some combination of Hatcher, Landri, Vickerson, and maybe Thomas. All of which have their question marks. If Nate Irving is expected to start, he's not going to be able to use his best tools, his instincts and elite lane filling ability, to his advantage when he's consistently swallowed up by Guards/Centers that are able to get downfield and quick.

I guess you could say I'm extremely worried.

We've been through this for a decade now. The Broncos NEVER actually go out and get an elite FA DT and they NEVER draft one!

I had hope when they went to the 3-4 because you don't NEED two elite DTs in that defense. You can just get ONE elite NT and find great 3-4 DEs in almost any round. Pittsburgh pro-bowl DE Keisel I think was drafted in round 4 or something.

But, shifting back to the 4-3 means they had to go out and start acquiring elite DL. THEN and only THEN get a great LB corps.

They already Have Doom so they had the most difficult ingredient of all to find -- an elite outside pass-rushing LB.

I'm not insisting that Fox stick with a 3-4 when he doesn't want to. But, having decided to switch to the 4-3 they should have started with Job #1 -- which is getting some ELITE DTs to stuff the run and get pressure up the middle.

Then they'd have the makings of a good defense. LBs you can always get in any draft. I just don't see Miller having the kind of impact that the homers over there in General Discussions insist he will have. I don't see the logic of using the #2 pick of the draft on a SLB for a 4-3 defense -- no matter how good he is or how they plan on "moving him around." Especially when that guy was a top 5 pick because he was the best 3-4 OLB in the draft.

[broncosdude88]

tommie harris?? injury proned= yes. but he's had a longer offseason to recover lol. i think we should take a shot @ signing him.

[shawinkerpoppin]

Ayers looked decent at DE in 3-4 on 3rd downs last year and could probably play there full time if he bulked up a little.

I really have no problem having Ayers as a backup.

I have a feeling ayers will justify being a first round pick this season. He won't put up dumervil numbers but I think he will get it in.

[johnlimburg]

Then what do we do with Von

Replace Ayers for him? Than Ayers is wasted. As much hate as he gets he's really not that bad excellent vs the run.

Ayers looked decent at DE in 3-4 on 3rd downs last year and could probably play there full time if he bulked up a little.

I really have no problem having Ayers as a backup.

[Bernie24]

I have to dream to keep my sanity! Reality around here is suicidal.

Then what do we do with Von

Replace Ayers for him? Than Ayers is wasted. As much hate as he gets he's really not that bad excellent vs the run.

[johnlimburg]

True and Franklin is at a point where he is essentially going to be at his last stop. Chances are he wants to be on a contender and since it looks like he wont he may charge a lot and take a small contract so he can in the future.

We dont want to be like the Raiders and there obsession with completely overpaying there aging D-lineman.

You mean the Broncos ?