The Kwon Connection
March 19th, 2019
Disturbing analysis.
Joe is a big John Lynch fan and respects the Bucs legend a considerable amount. How could you not?
But Joe either wants to know what he actually sees on film or if he’s had a major physical lately for him to do and say some of the things with the 49ers lately.
Yesterday, Joe brought word that Lynch, who paid middle linebacker Kwon Alexander a king’s ransom to come to San Francisco despite coming off major knee surgery, claimed Alexander made players around him better.
WHAT???!!!
But for five games in the four seasons Alexander started at middle linebacker for the Bucs, that defense was a sieve. And that is being polite.
Remember in Alexander’s rookie season, the Bucs defense was so bad it got inept Lovie Smith fired — last in the NFL in completion percentage allowed.
In 2017, the Bucs defense was bottom of the barrel, last in the NFL. How then-defensive coordinator Mike Smith was not fired after that season is a mystery to Joe.
Then the following season, in every game Alexander started, a defense he called the plays for was on pace to be the worst NFL defense a human has ever laid eyes on, on pace for 99-year NFL records for futility.
Now how the hell did Alexander make his teammates better? If that is the case, if Lynch wasn’t just publicly blowing smoke up Alexander’s tailpipe (very possible), that is a damning statement on the Bucs and their roster.
The Bucs were well on their way to becoming the worst defense in professional football history and Lynch claims it could have been worse? Dear God!
Unless Lynch has taken hyperbole to a new level, that is a horrible statement on the State of the Franchise by Lynch.
March 19th, 2019 at 12:10 am
Perhaps Lynch is learning the Bucs a lesson for his untimely and unprofessional release from Bruce Allen/Chunky. Consider the point taken!
March 19th, 2019 at 12:11 am
The stats of games with, and without Kwon show that Kwon made the defense better. If you don’t think he’s an outstanding LB, then you’re nuts. In any case there isn’t any LB that going to make people better if those people are Ryan Smith and Chris Conte who run around like dopes leaving their guys completely wide open, or they get ran over on national TV and literally change the course of a season. By this ridiculous standard of being responsible for the entire team how exactly does JPP make the defense better? They were literally worse with him – so he must be awful. What about David, he’s been on multiple 31st ranked defense, that’s all on him for signing a new contract to stay here.
March 19th, 2019 at 12:11 am
He made players around him “look” better than they were just because Kwon was mediocre at his position. Sorry Kwon lovers. Just like Lynch will make every GM around him look better because he will perform so poorly.
March 19th, 2019 at 12:19 am
john lynch is Matt Millen… man the word legend sure carries NO MEANING in buc land or in JBF world headquaters.. 5 career playoff wins is laughable not legendary….
March 19th, 2019 at 12:28 am
Another terrible take here from Joe. Blaming our terrible defense on Kwon is a joke. GMC was on all those terrible defenses…and more. Is he a bad player? Absolutely not. Kwon wasn’t responsible for our ineptitude in the secondary. Or our complete lack of a pass rush. Kwon was one of the few bright spots on an otherwise dark unit. Joe should show some more respect for a player who played the game the right way and got what he deserved.
March 19th, 2019 at 12:38 am
I was just reading on nfl.com the All-Paid Team. And of course kwons new contract was on the roster. But they said his huge contract was just Monopoly money It’s is essentially a one year 14.5 million dollar contract. Where they can walk away after next year. They gave him all the guaranteed money this year. And of it was a 4 million signing bonus. So if they release him after next year they will just have the remaining balance of his signing bonus as a cap hit. Less than 1 million. So they must not be to sold on him either. Kwon got 14.5 guaranteed all paid out this year. And in comparison Mosley got 43 million guaranteed. Kwons cap hit goes up from 11.5 this year to 14.3 next year. So I bet he will be a free agent again next year.
March 19th, 2019 at 12:41 am
Kwon’s speed was his ally and his nemesis. He could get from sideline to sideline but often took crappy angles and overran plays which put him out of position. Nothing but love for Kwon and I wish him the absolute best. With that said, Lynch is frontloading the Kwon contract. It looks like a king’s ransom but the deal really allows the 9ers to pay Kwon 14.25 mill in year one but cut him in year two for just 3 mill.
March 19th, 2019 at 12:42 am
Being a bucs legend is equivalent to being a Patriots cheerleader
March 19th, 2019 at 1:34 am
i don’t know how any of us can say he makes anyone better or not unless you are on the field with him. I would think when Lynch said this he was referring to the passion for the game Kwon has and how he keeps his teammates fired up and ready for the next play. I would say having a fiery leader can help when you need to get into the right mindset and would ultimately make someone play better.
It’s no mystery, we ran the most predictable defense in the league last year. Opposing coaches even would say it in their press conferences. They would say, “ well they are gonna do what they do on defense but they are young and run around really fast” so do chickens with their heads cut off which is what our defense looked like last year.
March 19th, 2019 at 3:31 am
Tmax, get your Bucs history correct if you want to carry on with your “I know more than all of you” persona. Six playoff wins (yes, six is still low).
Playoff wins against the Eagles (twice), Lions, Redskins, 49ers, Raiders.
March 19th, 2019 at 5:56 am
You continue to amaze me Joe. It’s fascinating how you can dangle an ‘Either-Or’ statement in front of JBFers to get us to choose one or the other, when in reality it’s much more complex than ‘Either-Or’. Most situations are IMO.
Here you seem to be saying that EITHER Kwon made others around him better OR he didn’t. Mixed in is EITHER John Lynch the GM knows what he’s doing OR he doesn’t. EITHER Kwon the MLB is worth a big contract OR he’s not.
There’s no way any of us can judge whether Kwon made others around him better. Like Alaskan says, none of us were “on the field with him.” Not to mention that it takes a TEAM effort to win and ONE player on defense can’t be held singularly responsible for how the other TEN perform on the field.
I think what Lynch sees in Kwon is his PASSION for the game AND certain LB skills & talents that’ll make him valuable IN THE 49ers DEFENSE. I still think that Kwon was misused as a MIDDLE LB in our defense (the Bucs were the ones who made Kwon a MLB … that’s NOT his background from college). The 49ers are morphing towards using 2 ILBs in their scheme. Last year they picked BYU’s Fred Warner to be one of those 2 ILBs (6’3″ & 236 lbs); started all 16 games at ILB & did very well. Kwon’s skills & experience seems to be well-suited for the defense the 49ers are trying to morph towards.
Excellent article (from 1 year ago) on what the 49ers are trying to build towards at http://www.espn.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/275392/49ers-hope-fred-warner-is-next-step-in-linebacker-evolutio . Only time will tell IF John Lynch got it right in bringing Kwon onboard. MAYBE John’s a lot smarter than some seem to think he is.
March 19th, 2019 at 5:56 am
I hear you Joe, the more brash one …lol
I hear you bout kwon they overpaid a bit yes but it was the secondary who sucked the most and was the reason and no pass rush in front of him…..
He did make the pro bowl AND most importantly
WE STILL HAVE NO MIDDLE LB
March 19th, 2019 at 6:00 am
The only players Kwon made better was the opposing offense.
This d is the definition of pathetic
Almost impossible to be this bad for this long but if anyone can do it the Bucs can
March 19th, 2019 at 6:12 am
I would agree with this. If Kwon was playing for a good defensice coach in a scheme that was was planned every week in practice he WOULD make players around him better. However , Expecting kwon to make players around him better in Mike Smiths defense is like asking a ferarrri to pull into a junk yard and increase the sale price of the junkers by just being there next to them.
I do still still think Kwon was overpaid and Devin white would be a huge upgrade.
March 19th, 2019 at 6:25 am
Cmurda
Nailed it.
And he’s right. Only 14.5 is gauranteed. They can move on after this year If injury takes away his burst/best attribute. But I’m sure they would need to see year 2 from him …cause a person is rarely 100 % the season after an acl tear.
Adrian Peterson is the freak and exception to the rule.
March 19th, 2019 at 8:52 am
your articles suck your call yourselves journalists? every writer has fluff pieces but you guys take the cake and extra icing why not report ACTUAL BUCS news last i checked kwon is no longer a buc alot of your articles feel like it was written by a 12 year old boy who whines and throws tantrums when one of your beloved players leaves the ship— NEWS FLASH— KWON SUCKS! dont you think arians and bowles would have lobbied to keep the guy around??? obviously they see better options in free agency and the draft otherwise im sure bruce would be telling licht we need kwon he will help ascend this defense but we never did did we lol instead we got shaq barrett who could end up being a better option we will know better after the draft
March 19th, 2019 at 9:20 am
Tmax nobody cares what you think or say out of that toliet you call a mouth. Shove some TP in there an go the hell away haha
March 19th, 2019 at 9:21 am
this article is ridiculous…..
kwon’s rookie year, we were 6-6 fighting for a playoff spot…..kwon got suspended and the defense suffered…..we didnt win another game….pretty sure that would qualify for making others around him better….
in 2017 he made the pro bowl…..pretty hard to make the PB if you’re not that good…..maybe winston wasnt that good when he made it…or GMC….
the bottom line is, if you calling out kwon for not making players around him better, than you have to call out GMC, LVD and JPP as well…..
and if you take things a step further, you only have to look at the coach who got canned mid way thru the season to know why players didnt produce…..
stop being butt hurt….JL got over on the bucs…..he’s not the first to do so but hopefully as long as BA is running the show he’ll be the last…..
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!!!
March 19th, 2019 at 9:44 am
Maybe he had an opportunity to watch a few of Mike Smith’s practices before becoming a GM and understands the obstacles the players had to overcome to make up for bad coaching.
March 19th, 2019 at 10:41 am
@JeffBuc
Thanks for bringing some facts to this party! Too often we neglect to look at the “guaranteed” money! That’s all that truly counts including in our own signings.
As far as making others around him look better…blah blah blah.
This team has sorely lacked a fiery team leader. LVD is too quiet and GMC’s personality is not the type to call out other players.
Kwon had one bright shining moment in his entire career here when he called out Swaggy after that stupid game changing penalty.
Our great defense had team leaders all over the field on D…not just Sapp…Brooks…Lynch…Ronde and the rest.
Right now we have only ONE…JPP. And he leads by example.
This is one reason why many of us want White…because he could provide some fire and heart right in the middle of Bowles defense. We need somebody on the D who will take names and kick arse. Kwon did that ONCE.
March 19th, 2019 at 11:50 am
Opponents rushing average last year
WITH KWON – 3.3
Without KWON – 5.0
Lynch is right.
We F’d up.
AGAIN.
March 19th, 2019 at 3:14 pm
Buc fire you can’t pay an average middle linebacker 14.5 million a year. Not possible. Joes point is he doesn’t change a game enough to justify that kind of money. Would I like to have kwon on are team for say 6-8 million a year. Yes all day let’s roll we would have 6-8 million left over to sign a good safety or gaurd. But to commit 14.5 to a non game changing middle linebacker. When has he changed the game around besides the Atlanta game. He was more of a liability with his bad angles and below average coverage. For every good play there were 2 bad. Kuechly doesn’t make 14.5 and you have at least seen two panthers games a year. To know he changes the game. He wrecks are game plan single handily. He’s up coaching the player to what we’re running. That’s a difference maker. Not a guy who runs fast and makes a handful of plays a game. Kuechly single handily kills at least 5 drives a game. With both coverage and run stopping.
March 19th, 2019 at 4:28 pm
He’s overrated, good yes, but great? Come on.
March 19th, 2019 at 6:08 pm
I don’t think John will have this job very long.