The 49ers went 5-11 this year—needless to say, the organization has seen better days.
Some fans may be interested in analayzing who the Niners might be drafting next season in order to improve to 7-9, but this fan would rather remember the good old days of quick slants and screen passes, a dominating secondary, and five Super Bowl Championships.
For as the old saying goes: There's nothing quite like nostalgia when the present seems so utterly pointless.
OK, I just made that up...but who ever said you can't invent proverbs when it's convienent?
Anyways, assembling this roster was no easy task—Steve Young, my favorite NFL player of all time, is sitting on the bench, and I'm not happy about it (however it's pretty much unavoidable when you consider the field general who preceded him).
There are a bunch of other guys who didn't end up making the cut, but will always be remembered by Niner Nation as heroes of the most special kind. So I threw together a bench to give the reserves their deserved moment in the sun.
Today's Must Reads
And what a fine bench it is...almost as intimidating as the team itself.
Without further ado, I give you the all time San Francisco 49ers...
Offense
QB: Joe Montana
RB: Garrison Hearst
FB: Tom Rathman
TE: Brent Jones
WR: Jerry Rice
WR: Terrell Owens
T: Bob St. Clair
T: Harris Barton
G: Guy McIntyre
G: Randy Cross
C: Forest Blue
Defense
DE: Fred Dean
DE: Chris Doleman
DT: Bryant Young
DT: Leo Nomellini
OLB: Charles Haley
MLB: Ken Norton Jr.
OLB: Dave Wilcox
CB: Deion Sanders
CB: Jimmy Johnson
SS: Tim McDonald
FS: Ronnie Lott
Special Teams
K: Ray Wershing
P: Tommy Davis
Return Specialist: John Taylor
Bench
Steve Young, John Brodie, Roger Craig, Hugh Macelhenny, Joe Perry, William Flloyd, Dwight Clark, Gene Washington, Jesse Sapolu, Charlie Krueger, Dana Stubblefield, Michael Carter, Cedric Hartman, Keena Turner, Jack Reynolds, Eric Wright, Carlton Williamson, Abe Woodson, Eric Davis, Dwight Hicks, Merton Hanks
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7 months ago
I don't know Zander, Hearst over Roger Craig, very tough call. Craig was the first back with 1,000 rushing and receiving yards in a season. Amazing what kind of impact Deion had because I totally agree he should be on there despite playing only one season in San Francisco.
from 7 months ago
Seriously...just because you started watching the 49ers in 1997, and missed the glory years, does not mean that Garrison Heart is the team's all-time running back.
Bill Walsh's offense needs a half running back / half wide receiver. Roger Craig is your pick...Ricky Waters is your second pick.
Garrison Heart is your pick if you need someone to get injured in the first 5 minutes of the NFL Championship Game.
Nice list :).
from 7 months ago
I have to disagree guys.
Peak values matters for this discussion, considering that none of these guys we are discussing had more than three 1000+ yards rushing in more than three seasons for the Nines throughout their careers.
At his peak, Garrison Hearst was the best running back the Niners ever had, other than Frank Gore. And Gore just hasn't put enough quality years in as a Niner to make the cut.
Look at Hearst's 1998 season: 310 carries for 1570 yards (a league leading 5.1 a carry). And 39 catches for 535 yards to boot (nearly 14 yards a catch!)
Craig's best season is very similar actually (1988): 310 carries for 1502 yards (4.8 a carry), 76 catches for 534 yards.
There's a key difference in my mind between the two seasons: the 1988 Niners were better than the 1998 Niners, particularly in the offensive line department. It's also important to note that Roger Craig was given a lot more opportunities to catch the ball (as he was in his 1000/1000 performance in 85') but far less efficient in racking up yards after the catch than Hearst.
As for Waters, his best season was as a rookie with the Nines, and it's definitely not as impressive as Craig's or Hearst's best efforts: 206 carries for 1016 yards (4.9 per carry), 43 catches for 409 yards.
Everyone seems to forget that Waters really didn't hit his peak until he got to Philly, and that playing with Steve Young and Jerry Rice at the peak of their careers greatly inflated his perceived value.
Frankly, it's insulting to a guy like Joe Perry, who played with the Niners long before their glory years (way back in the 50s), that Ricky Waters enters the conversation before he does, simply because Waters had the benefit of playing on a Super Bowl winning team.
Joe "the Jet" Perry meanwhile led the league in rushing in three different seasons (something which no other Niner running back other than Gore has ever done even once!) and was the first ever back to rush for 1000+ yards in two consecutive seasons.
Considering that Ricky Waters put up only one 1000 yard season with the Nines, I'd be hard pressed to choose him over Hearst, Craig, or Perry, who were far better at their peak and put up quality numbers for the team over a longer period of time.
As for Mr. Finocchio's snide remark: I started watching the Niners when I was five years old and still living in New York. I fell in love with Joe Montana during his famous drive against the Bengals in the 88' Super Bowl, and moved out to California the next year (admittedly the move had more to do with my Dad landing a job opportunity out west than my new-found love of the Niners at age five).
Don't you dare question how far back my allegiances go in this regard, or you will be entering a world of pain son!
Best five running backs in 49ers history:
1) Garrison Hearst
2) Joe Perry
3) Roger Craig
4) Frank Gore
5) The King
Honorable mention: Ricky Waters, Delvin Williams, Wilbur Jackson, Ken Willard
from 7 months ago
I'm sending this article to Roger Craig. I wouldn't count on being served at Menlo Grocery anytime soon.
from 7 months ago
Garrison Hearst and Frank Gore putting up big number for the Niners is like Antoine Walker putting up big numbers for the Celtics...catch my drift?
from 7 months ago
As far as I remember, Garrison Hearst was all about team—comparing him to Antoine Walker's selfish pursuit of statistics on the Celtics is absurd. Don't you remember how many goaline opportunities he'd give up so the Niners could throw a three yard touchdown pass?
All team, all the time, Garrison Hearst. If he hadn't gotten injured he would have been an elite rusher for years to come.
You better not send this to Roger—my Mom works out with him at Fitness 101 and I don't want him getting the wrong impression...
from 7 months ago
Good to see John Brodie's name on the list!
http://johnbrodieforfootballhalloffame.bravehost.com/
7 months ago
This list is perfect. Deion Sanders goes a bit unnoticed as a 49er.
7 months ago
And do you really think that Joe Montana was better than Steve Young? What does your heart tell you?
I defer to Michael Lewis, who infers the "The Blind Side" that Joe Montana was the ultimate system player.
I would add..."Ultimate system player who was unbelievably clutch"...but in all fairness, Montana started losing his job to Young in 1987.
But in a Super Bowl, I'd still take Montana too.
from 7 months ago
My heart tells me that Steve Young was the most exciting football player I've ever seen (a tie with Barry Sanders perhaps) but that Joe Montana was a better overall field general.
They both played with excellent teams, but Montana walked away with four rings, three Super Bowl MVPs, and a touchdown-to-interception ratio in the big game of 11 to 0. Young's performance against the Chargers after the 94' season was perhaps the single most impressive performance by a QB in a single Super Bowl, but the simple fact is that Joe led the team to the promised land on four occasions and Steve only did it once.
Montana is the most clutch football player of all time, hands down, and that's why he has to be the starter here.
Steve Young was a fantastic leader and clutch performer as well, but he didn't quite have the same Magic as Montana (no one ever has). Let's give Joe his due credit, while admiring Young all the same for the amazing athlete, precise passer, and patient decision maker that he was.
from 7 months ago
My heart tells me that you probably watched a total of 5 games that Montana ever played with the 49ers...don't think SF games were on in New York City in the late 80's.
from 7 months ago
OK, just for the record:
-The first Montana games I ever watched was his playoff run in 88' in Scarsdale, New York. Sorry to burst your bubble, but those games were definitely on national television.
-I watched nearly every single Niner game in both 1989 and 1990 once I had moved out to California. I probably saw about five Montana games in person at Candlestick, and probably 20-30 on TV.
-Even if I had never seen Montana throughout my entire life, I'd still put him as the starting quarterback of the all time 49ers. The title of this article isn't "The All-Time San Francisco 49ers Roster of Players I Personally Watched," but rather "The All Time San Francisco 49ers Roster."
I sure as hell didn't see Bob St. Clair or Ray Wershing play, but that doesn't mean I'm about to exclude them from the list in favor of Dave Fiore or Wade Richey.
Please come back down to planet earth, Mr. Finocchio...
from 4 months ago
Posted by Dave: "And do you really think that Joe Montana was better than Steve Young? What does your heart tell you?
I defer to Michael Lewis, who infers the "The Blind Side" that Joe Montana was the ultimate system player.
I would add..."Ultimate system player who was unbelievably clutch"...but in all fairness, Montana started losing his job to Young in 1987.
But in a Super Bowl, I'd still take Montana too."
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Having seen every game of both players, I will say it's a nice "problem" to have in trying to decide which Hall of Fame qb was better than the other, (although my personal nod, albeit a slight nod, does go to Joe) me doth thinks thou are wrong in your statement regarding "Montana starting losing his job to Young in '87".
You might be thinking about Joe struggling in '86, and some fans (and s**tdisturbing pundits of the press, such as Glenn Dickey, among others) who stirred the pot saying time for Steve (Montana missed half that season with injuries) but in the year you mentioned, '87, Joe apparently took the comments to heart, and came back with one of his better years. 102 qb rating, 31/13 td to int. ration, which, of course, followed with two Super Bowl seasons, in 88 and 89, where in 89 he had arguably one of his best, if not the best seasons, ending with a 112 rating, and a 26/8 td to int. ration, not to mention SB MVP.
Of course, after Joe was out for 13 months with his back injury, Steve did then proceed to win NFL MVP of the Year, which made it a quite odd "coming back from surgery/injury situation" for both players.
Might be the only time ever that two Hall of Fame qb's are on the same team, same time, playing for the starting position.
And, as I'm sure most recall, Niners were is a tough situation, which prompted Joe to examine options elsewhere. Once Joe announced that he had interviewed with KC, and that he was going to leave, the Niners offered him the starting job, as a last ditch effort to keep Joe in town. Joe wisely declined, being aware that not only did Steve just win NFL MVP, but it would have been one of those situations where whoever was starting, someone would be yelling for the other to be in, while stating "My family and I checked out KC, we like it there, and we're moving on."
to Steve's credit, he did as he's always done, which is being classy, taking the high road, and declining to say much of anything except the team will decide, and we'll take it from there.
So again, I disagree that Joe started losing it to Steve in '87, however when given his shot as the general for a full season, Young completely kicked ass, and earned the position.
Joe just had taken too many hits, and his body was shot.
Still feel priviliged that we as Niner fans had two of the best qb's of all time, on our team, at the same time.
7 months ago
Eric Davis...?
I was wrong. Your NFL experience clearly started with the Dallas Cowboys in 1995, and transitioned nicely into the "Garrison Heart years."
Eric Davis was a solid cornerback for the Niners. Nothing more...nothing less. And he shouldn't be on the list.
from 7 months ago
Davis was a two time all-pro—let's not act like he wasn't awesome. Don't forget that it's hard to get noticed when Deion's the other corner. That 94' team was so stacked with talent that great players like Eric Davis merely looked average. There's nothing wrong with giving him a mention here.
What's with this "NFL experience starting in ______ " crap? My list incorporates players from the 1950s through present day!
7 months ago
You completely miss the 1950's vintage players like Joe Perry as an example for a running back. I'd have put Fred Dean ahead of Chris Doleman, who was a fine player at Chicago but just took up space when he was with the Niners. And frankly a couple of the current players deserve to be on this team. It's not too early to nominate Patrick Willis as the greatest middle linebacker in Niner history and our current punter Andy Lee has better numbers than anyone else as well. Michael Carter was a defensive tackle, not an end, and certainly deserves to be at that spot next to Bryant Young. Replacing him at defensive end should be Cedrick Hardman, who was a sack artist equal to Fred Dean. As talented as Terrell Owens is, don't forget that this is a team game, and he was poison during his stay with the Niners and the Eagles. Gene Washington was every bit the superstar for the Niners back in the 70's and would have been a terror with Jerry Rice on the other side of the field. And you still need to add John Brodie to the bench.
from 7 months ago
It is without question too early to nominate Patrick Willis as the greatest Middle Linebacker in Niner history—he's played one season! In my book, that doesn't make you eligible to be on the Niners all-time starting Lineup alongside greats like Norton and Wilcox. Give him another year or two and he'll make the list without question.
You are totally right about John Brodie and Michael Carter. Huge errors on my part...I have gone ahead and moved Michael Carter to the honorable mention category (obviously can't put him at DT over Leo the Lion or BY) and added Brodie.
Defensive ends...tough call here Russ. I'm definitely gonna go ahead and say that you are underrating Doleman though.
He may have been less effective against the run by the time he came out west (not like it mattered with Stubby and BY clogging up the middle), but in his three year stint with the Niners from 96'-98' he recorded 38 sacks, which is pretty damn impressive. It's even more mind boggling when you consider that he had to share the love with Roy Barker, Stubby, Young, and Kevin Greene, who combined for 81.5 sacks throughout the same time period.
Fred Dean admittedly should be on here (gone ahead and replaced Carter with him). I'm gonna stick with Doleman over Cedrick Hartman though.
7 months ago
I don't remember Michael Carter ever playing End, just nost tackle and some defensive tackle.
7 months ago
Gosh darn it I miss seeing the guys on this list play....
from 7 months ago
No kidding man. What happened to our team? Shameful...
7 months ago
I agree with dave eric davis was good but ronnie lott was their secondary for a long time and then they got him some help.
7 months ago
Shouldn't Hacksaw Reynolds be on the list somewhere?
from 7 months ago
I wanted to put him in honorable mention, but he was only with his Niners at the very end of his career. His best years were definitely with the Rams.
That said, I only have one linebacker there thus far, so now that you mention it, I'll add him to the list.
6 months ago
I will tell you this - as a Giants fan we always seemed to be playing the 49ers in the playoffs: losing in '81 and '84, but winning in '85, '86 and '90 - knocking Joe Montana into submission in the latter two.
The player we feared the most: Roger Craig. Garrison Hearst? No way ....He's a Cardinal, anyway
6 months ago
I've made these teams 100 times. Here's what I came up with (anyone who's ever been on the 49ers roster)
QB – Joe Montana
RB- Frank Gore/Ricky Watters
FB- Tom Rathman/William Floyd
TE- Brent Jones/Vernon Davis
WR-Jerry Rice
WR-John Taylor/Terrell Owens
T-Kevin Gogan
T-Bob St. Claire
G-Guy McKentyre
G-Jesse Sapolu
C-Forrest Blue
DE- Chris Doleman/Richard Dent
DE-Fred Dean
DT- Bryant Young
DT- Dana Stubblefield
ILB-Ken Norton Jr.
ILB- Patrick Willis
OLB- Charles Haley
OLB – Manny Lawson/Kevin Greene
CB- Deion Sanders
CB- Rod Woodson/Nate Clements/Merton Hanks
FS- Ronnie Lott
SS- Tim McDonald
from 6 months ago
Decent list, but you have a few obvious problems:
1) Go look at Ricky Waters' stats with the Niners, and then compare them to that of Joe Perry, Garrison Hearst, and Roger Craig. There's simply no way that these three go unmentioned and he gets included.
As for Frank Gore: too early to tell IMO, but to each his own.
2) Same problem with Vernon Davis as Frank Gore.
3) Kevin Gogan was a guard, not a tackle.
4) Stubby was great, but there is no one in hell he makes the cut over Leo Nomellini. The guy didn't miss a game for 14 straight seasons and went to 10 pro bowls throughout his career.
5) Merton Hanks played free safety, not CB. Just wasn't fast enough.
6) Nate Clements has been on the roster for one year!
You seem to love these new players a lot more than the old ones...not fair in my opinion that a guy who puts in 10-15 great years gets benched for a person who has one season with a 5-11 team...
from 4 months ago
dude, come on, have you been watching football for the past 20 years? Or did you just tune in a year ago? Frank Gore, Vernon Davis? Manny Lawson? I'm all for fans liking their teams, maybe even to a fault, but I think you're reaching. And T.O.? His career with the 49ers was average at best, he had one memorable catch in the playoffs and thats it! To put him up with John Taylor and Jerry Rice is just flat out insulting. Patrick Willis over Ken Norton, Jr.? You have got to be smoking crack. Seriously.
6 months ago
Vernon Davis can't even sniff this list. You gotta put your time in son!
6 months ago
It's not very often you get a bench filled with players like Young, Craig, or Clark. Nice article!
4 months ago
Nice list, I don't know all of the players, but then again I haven't been alive that long. This is kinda inspiring me to toy with the concept of making a list for the Packers!
4 months ago
Posted by Dave: "And do you really think that Joe Montana was better than Steve Young? What does your heart tell you?
I defer to Michael Lewis, who infers the "The Blind Side" that Joe Montana was the ultimate system player.
I would add..."Ultimate system player who was unbelievably clutch"...but in all fairness, Montana started losing his job to Young in 1987.
But in a Super Bowl, I'd still take Montana too."
------------------------------------------------------------
Having seen every game of both players, I will say it's a nice "problem" to have in trying to decide which Hall of Fame qb was better than the other, (although my personal nod, albeit a slight nod, does go to Joe) me doth thinks thou are wrong in your statement regarding "Montana starting losing his job to Young in '87".
You might be thinking about Joe struggling in '86, and some fans (and s**tdisturbing pundits of the press, such as Glenn Dickey, among others) who stirred the pot saying time for Steve (Montana missed half that season with injuries) but in the year you mentioned, '87, Joe apparently took the comments to heart, and came back with one of his better years. 102 qb rating, 31/13 td to int. ration, which, of course, followed with two Super Bowl seasons, in 88 and 89, where in 89 he had arguably one of his best, if not the best seasons, ending with a 112 rating, and a 26/8 td to int. ration, not to mention SB MVP.
Of course, after Joe was out for 13 months with his back injury, Steve did then proceed to win NFL MVP of the Year, which made it a quite odd "coming back from surgery/injury situation" for both players.
Might be the only time ever that two Hall of Fame qb's are on the same team, same time, playing for the starting position.
And, as I'm sure most recall, Niners were is a tough situation, which prompted Joe to examine options elsewhere. Once Joe announced that he had interviewed with KC, and that he was going to leave, the Niners offered him the starting job, as a last ditch effort to keep Joe in town. Joe wisely declined, being aware that not only did Steve just win NFL MVP, but it would have been one of those situations where whoever was starting, someone would be yelling for the other to be in, while stating "My family and I checked out KC, we like it there, and we're moving on."
to Steve's credit, he did as he's always done, which is being classy, taking the high road, and declining to say much of anything except the team will decide, and we'll take it from there.
So again, I disagree that Joe started losing it to Steve in '87, however when given his shot as the general for a full season, Young completely kicked ass, and earned the position.
Joe just had taken too many hits, and his body was shot.
Still feel priviliged that we as Niner fans had two of the best qb's of all time, on our team, at the same time.
4 months ago
Hearst over Roger Craig?? Come on now...that's questionable.
3 months ago
What about Charles Haley at DE? I think that you might have missed one there. 16 sacks in 1990.
11 days ago
Much fun as this list is, I have a hard time counting Deion Sanders or Chris Doleman as 'Niners. When I think of Doleman, I think Vikings. Deion is a Cowboy. You left off Charles Haley, rightly, because he's a Cowboy.. Ken Norton Jr., however, and Tim McDonald, both 49ers.
It's tough to make the distinction... to what team does a player "belong". Clearly Montana is not a Chief, and clearly Lott is not a Jet. I don't think you can willy-nilly throw players in just because they happened to stop by Candlestick for a bit.
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