FanHouse MarquesDouglas

Here's a free-agent signing that won't get a lot of attention but could make a major impact on two teams: Defensive end Marques Douglas has departed the San Francisco 49ers and signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Last season I wrote that Douglas was the best player no one knows, and although he slowed down a bit late in the year, I still think he was one of the best defensive ends in the league last season. He finished fourth in the NFL with 12.0 stuffs last season, and Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated, who's as good as it gets when it comes to assessing line play, sang Douglas's praises.

Douglas is expected to start at left end for the Buccaneers, but I'm not sure end in a 4-3 defense is where he'll be best used. Douglas really had the perfect skill set to play the 3-4 end spot he occupied in San Francisco, and I have a feeling the 49ers will miss his presence more than the Buccaneers will benefit from it.

Some in the San Francisco media are questioning whether the 49ers have done enough to upgrade their pass rush, something woefully lacking last year. Marquee signing Justin Smith -- while very talented -- isn't known as a pass rush specialist, and they're content letting underrated end Marques Douglas liberally explore the market, though Manny Lawson and Jay Moore should help.

When asked whether the team really improved that dimension, Scot McCloughan pulled out the ole' "improving our offense will improve our defense" cliché.

"I think our improvement is going to come on offense - us keeping our defense off the field....

"We're going to be twice as good, from my standpoint, on offense, as far as keeping the ball in our hands. It'll make the defense that much better.

I obviously understand that logic and it's valid ... except when your offensive coordinator is Mike Martz. To allow your defense to rest, you have to maintain ball control, as McCloughan readily notes. But that has never, ever, ever been the objective of Martz's offense, which, when not quick-striking its way to the endzone, is prone to turnovers.

If ball control really is a priority, paired with the rumor that they will rely heavily on Frank Gore, it makes me wonder whether the 49ers eternal sunshined Martz after hiring him.

The 49ers kept what could be their best quarterback talent in Shaun Hill so far, but they don't seem so urgent to hold onto their other free agents. You know that old adage about successful teams being built on the lines? Yeah, they're not buying into it.

Keep in mind, letting players reach free agency isn't necessarily an indicator that those players will definitely leave. But it's also a sign that said team isn't feeling much of a sense of urgency. So the news that the team is willing to risk losing defensive end Marques Douglas and tackle Isaac Sopoaga is sort of surprising.

Douglas -- who seems more willing to sign with the 49ers than vice versa -- was great last year, and while Sopoaga hasn't reached his potential yet, he's still a monster 26-year-old tackle who can be an absolute force up the middle. The two will get considerable attention once free agency begins.

The 49ers already lost their other starting end, Bryant Young, to retirement. Losing Douglas and Sopoaga (who's a part-timer) would do a lot of damage to the line's talent and depth. Why the team would open the doors for those two, tacking yet another step back in their development, seems beyond me.

NFL Offseason Roadmap is a series focused on the needs of NFL teams as they begin the offseason.

1. Offensive Tackle. There is a reason the 49ers gave up the most sacks in the league last year. There's a reason Frank Gore had a letdown year (a few, actually, but this is one). The 49ers are off to a good start at overhauling the position with Joe Staley, but Staley's moving over to the left side, and it's up in the air how he'll respond. Backup Kwame Harris is a free agent, and the 49ers aren't really fans of either him or Jonas Jennings. The team is going to need a starter at right tackle, whether that's Jennings or someone new. But the team need a general upgrade in talent and depth. Bad news. The 49ers don't have a late first round pick. They could hope that Jeff Otah, Ryan Clady, or Sam Baker fall to them. An intriguing pick for later in the first day is Heath Benedict from Newberry. They'll have to get some help out of the draft, because free agency is scarce. Max Starks looks to be the the best available, meaning someone will grossly overpay for him.

NFL Offseason Roadmap is a series focused on the needs of NFL teams as they begin the offseason.

1. Offensive Tackle. The Rams have been lucky to have an incredible franchise left tackle for the last 11 seasons, and his play did as much for The Greatest Show on Turf as anyone else. But Orlando Pace has been ludicrously brittle the last two years and, at 32, can't really be depended on anymore. The drop-off in production without Pace has been glaring. On the other side, Alex Barron has been disappointing as a first-round pick; there's so much yellow cloth at Barron's feet on gameday that you'd think he stuffed his jersey with Terrible Towels. In the last four years, Barron ranks behind just Robert Gallery in penalties. On top of the starters, after all of the injuries the Rams endured on the line last year, depth should be considered critical. The easy and obvious answer is Jake Long, who should be available when the Rams pick second. Long can play both sides, which certainly helps, and he can immediately take over for Pace should something happen. If the team needs further depth, Kwame Harris or Damien Woody could be affordable options, and Woody triples as a possible guard and center.

San Francisco 49ers defensive end Marques Douglas is both an outstanding player and an anonymous player.

How outstanding is he? Douglas ranks second in the league in stuffs, an unofficial but useful statistic measuring tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage on running plays. (For some reason, defensive ends who stop quarterbacks behind the line of scrimmage are celebrated, but defensive ends who stop running backs behind the line of scrimmage are ignored.)

And how anonymous is he? Even when he's praised, he's slighted. Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated wrote that he's an All-Pro candidate, adding, "Douglas is going so hard and at such a furious pace that I wonder whether or not he'll be able to keep it up all season." Except that while lavishing praise on Douglas, Zimmerman mis-stated his first name, calling him "Maurice."

The only person I've seen praise Douglas while calling him by his correct name is my FanHouse colleague JJ Cooper, who called him The Great Unknown. So there you have it, Marques. We love you here at FanHouse, even if the rest of the football world doesn't even know your name.

Well here's the good news for the 49ers: after seeing Trent Dilfer get his chance to run the offense, it's safe to say that Alex Smith, the former first overall pick, isn't necessarily the problem. The bad news: the rest of the team is.

You hate to give all the attention to the 49ers when the Seahawks won a division game by 20 points, but San Francisco was just horrible in the 23-3 loss. When four players on your offense register tackles, something is going horribly, horribly wrong. Down 13-0, the 49ers opened the second half by recovering an onside kick.

Enthusiasm ensues. Next play? Interception. Down 20-0 later in the third, needing a score on the Seahawks' 45, three penalties for 20 yards. Punt. All game long, the 49ers had the pistols aimed squarely at their own feet, and I think most egregiously is how the San Francisco offensive line is playing. They've allowed 15 sacks through four games and aren't creating any space for Frank Gore. But the blame lies everywhere.

To get you ready for week 4, FanHouse is previewing all this week's games. Here is the Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49ers preview.

2007 Records:
Seattle Seahawks: 2-1 (t-1st in NFC West)
San Francisco 49ers: 2-1 (t-1st in NFC West)

Last Game:
Seahawks 24, Bengals 21
Steelers 37, 49ers 16

When the Seahawks have the ball: This could be a big game for Shaun Alexander. The 49ers are holding opposing quarterbacks to just 192 yards per game, but they're allowing 142.3 on the ground. The Seahawks, without a true number one receiver to draw heat, will have a tough time navigating the 49ers outstanding secondary.

The 49ers make the secondary's job easier by bringing a lot of pressure, and the Seahawks' offensive line is not what it used to be. But the 9ers are weak at nose tackle, and their linebackers are having to fight off too many blocks to get to the ballcarrier. If the Seahawks can get Alexander on track early and then continue to ride him, it could be a long day ....

When the 49ers have the ball: ... because the 49ers can't score. They've got the 31st-ranked offense in the league (they rank below the Chiefs, Vikings, Browns, and the cast of Necessary Roughness in that regard). Alex Smith hasn't developed as he was expected to, Frank Gore is still shaking off the rust of an inactive preseason (while also dealing with the death of his mother and a bad offensive line), and none of the receivers have made an impact.

Of course, the 49ers' marquee receiver is Darrell Jackson, who'll be playing his former teammates for the first time. The Seahawks' pass defense has been underwhelming, and Jackson could post a revenge game against the management he feuded with.

When people talk about the 49ers defense, they talk about Patrick Willis, Bryant Young, Nate Clements or the now-injured Manny Lawson. But after paying close attention to the line play in the Steelers-49ers game, I'm convinced that 49ers defensive end Marques Douglas played one of the better games I've seen in recent years.

Douglas spent most of the game lined up against Steelers Pro Bowler Alan Faneca. Facing Faneca, Douglas would have clocked in with a good effort if he could just occupy Faneca and work a stalemate. But he did much more than that. Douglas ended up leading the 49ers with eight tackles while also picking up half a sack. When you consider that 3-4 ends often struggle to record any tackles (it's the linebacker's jobs to pick up the tackles), it was an amazing effort.

Douglas recorded tackles on three straight plays in the first quarter and picked up half a sack in the second quarter, but he was even better in the third quarter. He managed to get free from Faneca for a tackle on a first down, then beat Faneca again on the next play to pressure Ben Roethlisberger, forcing him to tuck the ball and run. Three plays later he beat Jerame Tuman to tackle Najeh Davenport for a two-yard loss. Later in the quarter he once again beat a Steeler tight end to stuff Willie Parker for a one-yard gain, then beat Faneca to blow up Parker's running lane on the next play by getting into the backfield.

As Tom points out, the 49ers still need a nose tackle to really make the 3-4 work, but if Douglas can keep playing like this, the defensive end spots are capably filled with Douglas and Bryant Young.