Man, tragic doesn’t even begin to describe what happened with Aldon Smith. Gifted beyond belief as a pass-rushing DE, he stormed into the league and drove the 49ers defense to great heights in his first 2 years here. But he chased the the party scene equally as hard, and his career was cut short by his many arrests, DUIs, brushes with the law, and suspensions.
36 is way too young for a guy who looked like a Hall of Fame talent had he somehow been able to overcome the demons in his head that were tormenting him. Or whatever was going on. No idea what he was going through, but here’s an interview with Aldon that was released the day before he passed away.
It sounds like he was really trying hard to get his life together but was still running into obstacles.
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/aldon-smith-death-interview-personal-struggles/
Sad that sometimes you just can’t turn things around faster. He and Justin Smith were terrors on the right side of the defense in their time together.
Forty Niners Forever 
Thank for that link chuck. As a long time recovering everything I can relate to taking a close look at yourself.
We often talk about rock stars who were gone too soon. Aldon was also gone too soon. He might not have died but his career was cut short because of personal problems. I think he would’ve been one of the all-time greats had he been sober. In the end, he is now gone too soon. RIP Aldon.
This kind of stuff always reminds me of the song “Ain’t talkin’ bout love”.
Van Halen was never really about the meaningful lyrics, but the lines:
“I’ve been to the edge
and there I stood and looked down
You know I lost a lot of friends there, baby
Ain’t got no time to mess around”
stuck with me. It seemed like in the 70s there were a lot of us dancing on the edge. And we’ve all lost friends to this.
My my, hey hey.
The back of my head is in there somewhere. This is up there in one of my greatest shows I saw.
This was quite a surprise to me. I would’ve never guessed. It’s probabaly because they just went through the guards and center!
Pro Football Network’s OL Impact metric ranked left tackle Trent Williams and right takcle Colton McKivitz as the top offensive tackle duo in the NFL last season. The numbers from TruMedia support it: San Francisco’s bookends combined to allow just seven sacks, 64 pressures and 17 quarterback hits, good for a 5.3% pressure rate.
LG and C were awful. Puni had a pretty injury-filled year as well.
Which is why I want this team to do more before the start of the season.
They have to at least replace Brendel. More often than not he spent his time looking backwards.
I remember 1 particular sack from Aldon where he gets to the QB, then he runs straight off the field and just sat bolt upright on the bench. No celebrations at all. Stuck in my mind.
Yeah, remember that.
Just my opinion but I think in the beginning Aldon besides being immature and probably 1st time even playing anywhere but back south ,was just lonely.Yeah I’m sure teammates try to help him out but they have lives too., but a young guy with big bucks,new big crib, not many regular friends, just got caught up in drinking/drugs and started spiraling out of control..
Sad Story for a guy like Berger mentioned a HOF type player after 34 sacks the 1st 2 years!!
Carl Monroe springs to mind. Not nearly the star but just was out of control. He died at 29.
New thread is up