The position value truthers say it's impractical to draft certain positions in the first round. Off-the-ball linebacker is one of them, but if you find the right guy it can work out very well. Patrick Willis, the 11th overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, was that right guy for the San Francisco 49ers.
Former 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh once unironically called Willis the Willie Mays of linebackers, in reference to being a "five-tool player". In linebacking terms, that means being a force in the run game, in coverage and as a blitzer, while being able to tackle/make plays in space and run sideline to sideline.
All of that described Willis perfectly.
Willis made the Pro Bowl in each of his first seven seasons, with a Defensive Rookie of the Year award and five First Team All-Pro nods mixed in. He also led the league in total and solo tackles twice in his first three seasons.
A toe injury limited Willis to just six games during the 2014 season, and he announced his retirement in March of 2015 after eight seasons.
Willis was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2024, in his fifth year of eligibility and his second year as a finalist. But his shortened career still carries a hint of "what might have been."
Patrick Willis takes rightful place on PFF all-time list
Pro Football Focus started grading every player in every game in 2006, just in time for Willis to start his NFL career a year later. So while those who came before that this century may be discounted on the site's list of the best players of the last 25 years, writer Jonathan Macri outlined why Willis rightfully stands above his linebacker brethren over that span.
"Willis finished his NFL career with the highest PFF overall grade ever for the position and is the only linebacker to rank in the top five in career PFF overall grade, career PFF run-defense grade (94.5), career PFF coverage grade (94.1) and career missed tackle rate (5%)."
"He was never worse than a top-three-graded linebacker overall for six straight seasons, from 2008 to 2013, and was No. 1 in that regard twice."
Willis has a higher career PFF grade (94.3) than Ray Lewis (91.8), who played 10 seasons before the site started grading in earnest but posted some high-end grades over seven seasons in "the PFF era."
Willis is arguably.... well, it's hard to argue against it.... the best player the 49ers have had this century. And by many statistical measures, PFF or otherwise, he might be the best off-ball linebacker the league has seen in the last 25 seasons.
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