49er's Linebacking Corp Will Surprise, Thanks to Manny Lawson

In 2006, Manny Lawson's track abilities and college football achievements gave me visions of a Lawrence Taylor blur caped in red and gold. I saw highlights to be on Sunday evening news of his trademark leap over running backs, tight ends, and even offensive tackles on a
weekly basis.

We are now in eve of the summer of 2009 and I still can't let go of the achievements that he has yet to accomplish. Call me optimistic, a dreamer, or an idiot; I still believe he will be a force in the 49er pass rush schemes. Here's why I think Manny Lawson still has the potential to lead the intro to 49er highlights on Sundays for this season and beyond.

In his rookie year and on his second year, niner coach Mike Nolan used Manny Lawson similar to how he used Adalius Thomas in Baltimore serving as defensive coordinator.  Former 49er player Julian Peterson, also a versatile linebacker who covered running backs and tight ends like a safety, had the same defensive responsibilities early in his career. This versatility prohibited Manny (Adalius and Julian) from concentrating on refining his rushing skills to pressure the
quarterback, nor learn from the onset to identify plays where he has angles for potential tackle for losses. Instead, he had to learn pass coverage responsibilities for tight ends and running backs between Mike Nolan's hybrid 3-4 defense. It is difficult for any rookie to learn the
intensity and physicality of professional football let alone learning a new position (he was switched to outside linebacker from college defensive end) with complex responsibilities.

At the start of his second season, the progress in Manny Lawson's development is evident.
The year of experience acclimating to the speed of the offense and the benefit of the off-season to learn from his mistakes and further understand the nuance of his position has borne fruit.  He looked on the verge of becoming an impact player! He looked quicker. He recognized plays faster and he moved in space more decisively. If the NFL had this award, Manny Lawson was on his way to being 2007 NFC's Most Improved Player! Unfortunately, the NFL doesn't have such honorifics and he was injured in the second game of the season with an ACL injury.


Julian Peterson had a similar beginning to his career. I remember the number of times Julian ALMOST had a sack just as the quarterback released the ball. I always screamed and pleaded to anyone, why would a coach put his best pass rusher outside of the box to cover Marshall Faulk who was lined up as a receiver. Unfortunately, I did not see much of Baltimore and how Mike Nolan used Adalius Thomas, but Thomas, Julian Peterson and Manny Lawson had similar sack totals in their first full 3 seasons. It's on year four when Julian Peterson and Adalius Thomas made a statistical leap in production.


Julian Peterson
2000: 4.0
2001: 3.0
2002: 2.0
2003: 7.0

Adalius Thomas
2000: 0.0 **played in 3 games**
2001: 3.5
2002: 3.0
2003: 4.0
2004: 8.0

Manny Lawson
2006: 2.5
2007: 0.0 **injured in the 2nd game**
2008: 3.0
2009: ??

Wrapping my "Manny Lawson Will Become a Sack Master" theories together, I am banking on the often stated fact that a player takes a full year to fully regain his/her abilities to pre-ACL standards. Manny will move and react close to his rookie and sophomore seasons.  Mike Singletary and Greg Manusky have also simplified the 3-4 defense, which will provide more opportunities for the outside linebackers to rush the passer more instead of being used as the 3rd and 4th safeties. I believe with the hesitance removed from his ACL injury, a simplified attacking defense with opportunities for sacks, and the history of 2 similarly used players, Manny Lawson has the potential for double digit sack totals in the 2009 season.

Heading into the 2009 49er training camp, I would love to ask Manny the following questions:

1. Manny, you won the long jump and triple jump in the 2003 Patriot Games,have you done the Lawrence Taylor superman leap over a running back and ..........what happened?
2. You have the same build as the productive Jason Taylor, what dance moves can you execute on the dance floor right now and can it translate to you tango-ing past offensive linemen on Sundays?
3. Shawne Merriman has won numerous defensive accolades and awards built upon his rip and spin moves.  If they were to offer to teach you the footwork for their spin move for a whole day but it fell on the same day, who's offer would you take: Shawne Merriman or Hakeem Olujuwon?
4. Which coaching outside of football have you gone to and which has helped improve your game?