Super Bowl champion LB says 49ers' scheme gave him nightmares
· Yahoo Sports
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David spent 13 seasons trying to flummox opposing offensive coordinators. But when it came to game-planning, one offense stood above the rest in giving David trouble: Kyle Shanahan's San Francisco 49ers.
Visit asg-reflektory.pl for more information.
Appearing on "This Is Football" with Kevin Clark, the recently retired Buccaneers legend and Super Bowl LV champion was asked which offense kept him up at night during the later years of his career. His answer came without hesitation.
"I would probably say, San Francisco," David said. "The way they did things. They kept it like similar, you know, keeping big personnel in, but they could spread you out."
David pointed to Shanahan's use of pre-snap motion and positionless personnel as the key to the 49ers' offensive disguise, name-checking a group of players who blurred roles across the formation that include running back Christian McCaffrey, fullback Kyle Juszczyk, former 49ers star Deebo Samuel, and more. That interchangeability, David explained, was what made San Francisco's attack so difficult to diagnose before the snap — every skill player capable of doing every other skill player's job.
Rather than tip their hand, the Niners forced defenses to wait for the smallest crack in the design — one that rarely showed itself.
"You just had to kind of really set up a sudden and kind of catch a small maybe a small flaw in it, which is very rare," David said. "They made everything look exactly the same. You couldn't really get a read on where it's going to be run or pass, but it definitely kept me up at night."
David played the 49ers seven times in his career, but only went 2-5 during those matches. David also had just 50 combined tackles and two total sacks across those games. Despite the losses and poor production, David said facing that level of scheme complexity was part of what made those matchups worthwhile, calling it a real test of his preparation and instincts.
"I love those type of offenses because it's challenging," David said. "It kind of test me, see where I'm at in my game plan, my studying and my ability. So it was cool to go against."
Coming from a two-time All-Pro who anchored one of the league's best defenses for over a decade, that's about as strong an endorsement of Shanahan's system as it gets.
This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: Super Bowl champion LB says 49ers' scheme gave him nightmares