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) | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Tm | G | GS | Tot | Solo | Ast | Tck/G |
Zach Brown | WAS | 13 | 13 | 127 | 84 | 43 | 9.8 |
Sean Lee | DAL | 11 | 11 | 101 | 70 | 31 | 9.2 |
Preston Brown | BUF | 16 | 16 | 144 | 84 | 60 | 9.0 |
Blake Martinez | GNB | 16 | 16 | 142 | 95 | 47 | 8.9 |
Joe Schobert | CLE | 16 | 16 | 142 | 85 | 57 | 8.9 |
Deion Jones | ATL | 16 | 16 | 138 | 91 | 47 | 8.6 |
Christian Kirksey | CLE | 16 | 16 | 138 | 86 | 52 | 8.6 |
Demario Davis | NYJ | 16 | 16 | 135 | 97 | 38 | 8.4 |
NaVorro Bowman | 2TM | 15 | 15 | 126 | 80 | 46 | 8.4 |
Luke Kuechly | CAR | 15 | 15 | 125 | 74 | 51 | 8.3 |
Bobby Wagner | SEA | 16 | 16 | 133 | 97 | 36 | 8.3 |
C.J. Mosley | BAL | 16 | 16 | 132 | 96 | 36 | 8.3 |
Kwon Alexander | TAM | 12 | 12 | 97 | 70 | 27 | 8.1 |
Lavonte David | TAM | 13 | 13 | 101 | 76 | 25 | 7.8 |
Reshad Jones | MIA | 16 | 16 | 122 | 94 | 28 | 7.6 |
Wesley Woodyard | TEN | 16 | 16 | 121 | 81 | 40 | 7.6 |
Ryan Shazier | PIT | 12 | 12 | 89 | 68 | 21 | 7.4 |
Danny Trevathan | CHI | 12 | 12 | 89 | 60 | 29 | 7.4 |
Telvin Smith | JAX | 14 | 14 | 102 | 76 | 26 | 7.3 |
Reuben Foster | SFO | 10 | 10 | 72 | 59 | 13 | 7.2 |
K.J. Wright | SEA | 15 | 15 | 108 | 71 | 37 | 7.2 |
Antonio Morrison | IND | 15 | 15 | 108 | 64 | 44 | 7.2 |
Kiko Alonso | MIA | 16 | 16 | 115 | 79 | 36 | 7.2 |
Keanu Neal | ATL | 16 | 16 | 113 | 81 | 32 | 7.1 |
Eric Kendricks | MIN | 16 | 16 | 113 | 67 | 46 | 7.1 |
Anthony Hitchens | DAL | 12 | 12 | 84 | 55 | 29 | 7.0 |
Nick Vigil | CIN | 11 | 11 | 77 | 43 | 34 | 7.0 |
Jonathan Bostic | IND | 14 | 14 | 97 | 57 | 40 | 6.9 |
Tahir Whitehead | DET | 16 | 16 | 110 | 78 | 32 | 6.9 |
Jarrad Davis | DET | 14 | 14 | 96 | 65 | 31 | 6.9 |
Deone Bucannon | ARI | 12 | 12 | 81 | 58 | 23 | 6.8 |
Brandon Marshall | DEN | 16 | 16 | 106 | 75 | 31 | 6.6 |
Landon Collins | NYG | 15 | 15 | 99 | 74 | 25 | 6.6 |
Ramon Humber | BUF | 13 | 9 | 83 | 56 | 27 | 6.4 |
Alec Ogletree | LAR | 15 | 15 | 95 | 63 | 32 | 6.3 |
Jordan Poyer | BUF | 15 | 15 | 95 | 63 | 32 | 6.3 |
Kurt Coleman | CAR | 12 | 12 | 76 | 51 | 25 | 6.3 |
Earl Thomas | SEA | 14 | 14 | 88 | 56 | 32 | 6.3 |
Darron Lee | NYJ | 15 | 15 | 94 | 67 | 27 | 6.3 |
Mark Barron | LAR | 14 | 14 | 85 | 72 | 13 | 6.1 |
Karlos Dansby | ARI | 16 | 15 | 96 | 74 | 22 | 6.0 |
Jahleel Addae | LAC | 16 | 16 | 96 | 66 | 30 | 6.0 |
Lawrence Timmons | MIA | 14 | 14 | 84 | 58 | 26 | 6.0 |
Vincent Rey | CIN | 14 | 11 | 84 | 52 | 32 | 6.0 |
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