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49ers not winning offseason on D

Foster facing 2018 suspension

By trading for Jimmy Garoppolo and locking him up with a multi-year deal last week, San Francisco got its offseason off on the right foot. On offense, anyway. But their defense doesn't have a similarly favorable outlook thus far.

Middle linebacker Reuben Foster was arrested over the weekend on domestic violence and weapons charges. Details that come out about the incident are ugly. This was also Foster's second arrest in a month. The first was for a marijuana possession charge. Didn't the season just end?

Foster entered the league with some off-field concerns, part of why he fell to San Francisco with the 31st overall pick last April, and those worries are proving valid.

As a rookie, Foster missed six games due to injury (the other reason he slipped in the draft). When he was on the field, he was very good, averaging 7.2 tackles per game. Among players with at least 70 tackles a year ago, that was a top-20 performance.

TACKLES PER GAME, 2017 (70-PLUS)
PlayerTmGGSTotSoloAstTck/G
Zach BrownWAS131312784439.8
Sean LeeDAL111110170319.2
Preston BrownBUF161614484609.0
Blake MartinezGNB161614295478.9
Joe SchobertCLE161614285578.9
Deion JonesATL161613891478.6
Christian KirkseyCLE161613886528.6
Demario DavisNYJ161613597388.4
NaVorro Bowman2TM151512680468.4
Luke KuechlyCAR151512574518.3
Bobby WagnerSEA161613397368.3
C.J. MosleyBAL161613296368.3
Kwon AlexanderTAM12129770278.1
Lavonte DavidTAM131310176257.8
Reshad JonesMIA161612294287.6
Wesley WoodyardTEN161612181407.6
Ryan ShazierPIT12128968217.4
Danny TrevathanCHI12128960297.4
Telvin SmithJAX141410276267.3
Reuben FosterSFO10107259137.2
K.J. WrightSEA151510871377.2
Antonio MorrisonIND151510864447.2
Kiko AlonsoMIA161611579367.2
Keanu NealATL161611381327.1
Eric KendricksMIN161611367467.1
Anthony HitchensDAL12128455297.0
Nick VigilCIN11117743347.0
Jonathan BosticIND14149757406.9
Tahir WhiteheadDET161611078326.9
Jarrad DavisDET14149665316.9
Deone BucannonARI12128158236.8
Brandon MarshallDEN161610675316.6
Landon CollinsNYG15159974256.6
Ramon HumberBUF1398356276.4
Alec OgletreeLAR15159563326.3
Jordan PoyerBUF15159563326.3
Kurt ColemanCAR12127651256.3
Earl ThomasSEA14148856326.3
Darron LeeNYJ15159467276.3
Mark BarronLAR14148572136.1
Karlos DansbyARI16159674226.0
Jahleel AddaeLAC16169666306.0
Lawrence TimmonsMIA14148458266.0
Vincent ReyCIN14118452326.0

Table shows all players with at least 70 tackles who averaged over 6.0 per game. Foster proved he belongs in the NFL as a rookie, at least on the field. But very likely he'll miss time due to suspension, and San Francisco might quickly get fed up with him.

--Andy Richardson

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