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Eric Davis Explains why the 49ers Should Build their Defense Outside In

I've often debated with 49ers fans about the best way to build a defense -- from front to back, or from back to front.
Grant Cohn|
Eric Davis Explains why the 49ers Should Build their Defense Outside In
Eric Davis Explains why the 49ers Should Build their Defense Outside In

I've often debated with 49ers fans about the best way to build a defense -- from front to back, or from back to front.

I believe the best way to build a defense is back to front, meaning I would prioritize the defensive backfield and coverage over the defensive line and pressure.

I recently asked former 49ers All Pro cornerback Eric Davis how he would build a defense. His answer was fascinating.

DAVIS: "George Siefert told me this, and I believe it, and it's the way I would build a team. And it's funny that this is how he saw it, because every single year he drafted a big human being. He always drafted large people. If I were the GM, I'd always try to get a large human being, simply because you can't coach that. You can't teach that. If I find this 6-5, 330-pound guy who runs a 4.5, I want one of those. Give me one of those every Christmas.

"But this is what George said, and I believe it, and it's my philosophy. I look at the way the game has morphed -- build it outside in, offensively and defensively. And this is why. If I can play your wide receivers one on one, then I can stack the middle. If I can play your receivers one on one, you're not going to run the ball, because I can play a nine-man front. I can have everybody keying in on the run, and I can let those receivers be covered one on one.

"Vice versa, if you can't cover my wide receivers one on one, I dictate everything that you have to do defensively, because you have to double my guys. And if you have to double my guys, I'm always going to be in a position to outnumber you in the box and run the ball. So you build it outside in. And you've seen that this year with Robert Saleh. Even with all the guys getting hurt, the emergence of Jason Verrett (has helped). And if you get two guys who can cover, now I can blitz. If I don't have a front four that can get there, I can add five or six. But that's only if my corners can play one on one. So you have to find guys that can cover. It's that simple."

Watch the interview below:

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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