Jerry Rice. Joe Montana. Steve Young. Dwight Clark. Terrell Owens. Roger Craig. John Taylor. Frank Gore. The list doesn’t stop there when discussing the greatest players to wear a 49er helmet.
When mentioning the Niners greats, we often jump to the offensive side of the ball — and for a good reason. But today, we’re keeping it on the defensive side of the ball.
Offense dominates most of the football discussion. That’s true for any team. Think about last year, where San Francisco was above average thanks to explosive plays but was a top-5 defense without a household name in the secondary — not to mention starting a cornerback that was signed off the street for most of the season.