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In the new Foot Locker commercial for ASICS shoes out Thursday, San Francisco's Patrick Willis says he's the fastest linebacker in football. One thing he can't outrun is the controversy over when he recently killed a gopher snake in his house. ...

Our post-draft amendments to pre-draft positional rankings continue with Matt Williamson, NFL scout for ESPN.com. Up next: linebackers. NFC West teams drafted six of them if we count the San Francisco 49ers' Corey Lemonier and the Arizona Cardi...

Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY SportsThe 49ers have had success with a home grown team built primrily through the draft.The San Francisco 49ers enter the 2013 NFL Draft with 13 draft picks, the most of any team. If they make all 13 picks, it will be the mo...

The San Francisco 49ers placed three linebackers on the Associated Press' All-Pro first team for 2012. A fourth 49ers linebacker earned second-team All-Pro honors. Matt Williamson Ranks West by Position Team SF SEA STL ARI QB...

The San Francisco 49ers have generally done a good job identifying which players to re-sign ahead of time. Patrick Willis, Vernon Davis, NaVorro Bowman and Joe Staley stand as examples from past seasons. Deciding against paying big money for other...

Top NFC West ILB Contracts ILB APY Gtd. Patrick Willis $10.0M $29.0M NaVorro Bowman $8.9M $25.5M James Laurinaitis $8.3M $23.6M Daryl Washington $8.0M $5.0M Source: ESPN Stats & Informatio...

T.R. Foley offers his list of 10 non-MMA athletes who could do well as fighters

Story | Conversation | March 28, 2013

T.R. Foley offers his list of 10 non-MMA athletes who could do well as fighters

Story | Conversation | March 28, 2013

The San Francisco 49ers probably are not going to overhaul their defensive scheme to accommodate newly added tackle Glenn Dorsey. Initial reports suggest Dorsey will help fill the void created by nose tackle Isaac Sopoaga's departure to the Philad...

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Patrick Willis, Adrian Wilson and Steven Jackson defined toughness, physical play and intimidation in the NFC West when the division was known for none of those things. It's only fitting Wilson and Jackson are leaving together. While it's possi...

BOSTON -- The San Francisco 49ers, having already spent big for Patrick Willis, engaged in a lengthy internal debate before deciding to invest heavily in a second inside linebacker, NaVorro Bowman, last season. The St. Louis Rams also had big-pict...

Rich Cimini does a good job laying out reasons the San Francisco 49ers might consider trading for New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis. I'll give you five reasons to think twice. Philosophy test: Smart NFL teams know drafting well beats sig...

Mel Kiper Jr. is back with his second 2013 NFL mock draft for the first round. We'll run through the projected picks for NFC West teams, beginning in reverse order and working our way forward. I'll include snippets from Kiper's analysis, followed...

NEW ORLEANS -- Thoughts on the San Francisco 49ers' 34-31 defeat to the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII: What it means: The 49ers came excruciatingly close to a sixth Super Bowl title, but they couldn't draw up or execute the winning plays wi...

When I decided to count down the 22 most important players in Sunday's Super Bowl, I didn't imagine it was going to be all that hard. I mean, there are 44 total starters; picking half of them should be doable. Then I actually started. Let me firs...