Colts Sign Samson Ebukam
 

Former 49ers’ free-agent DE Samson Ebukam reached agreement on a three-year, $27 million max deal with the Indianapolis Colts that includes over $11 million in the first year, per @JFowlerESPN and me. Cameron Foster and @chriscabott confirmed and negotiated deal

Not a bad add, he's a solid player. Played 59% of SF's defensive snaps last year had 15 total pressures and 5 sacks. Guessing this means no Ngakoue return?

I hope Steichen has had a lot of influence on the incoming players. Maybe he has different insights that will readjust Ballard's traditional approach which hasn't been working.

This looks a lot like the Denico Autry pickup that Ballard made before Steichen was here.

I hope he ends up being cheaper than Ngakoue because he’s not better. 5 sacks last year was a career high.

Not a fan of this move, especially if Ngakoue signs somewhere else for similar money.

Some promising stats on Ebukam vs. Njakoue:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...anapolis-colts

Ngakoue was horrible in run support. I'll take a promising sack guy who can also play the run on his way to the QB.

Yannick was a liability against the run and I felt like his pressure never showed up at important times during the game.

We already have Paye and Dayo who are good against the run but can’t get to the quarterback.

This guy seems like a clone of them who also makes more money.

If the money is similar, I’d rather have kept Ngakoue.

Not a fan of this move.

Autry had similar type numbers coming from OAK and he ended up being pretty valuable to us. Autry is both a point for and a strike against Ballard. Ngakoue wasn't awful, but his play was far less impactful than his numbers suggest.

They clearly like Ebukam on tape and aren't basing it off his stat sheet. He's 20lbs. lighter than Kwity and 30lbs. lighter than Dayo so he'll be LEO opposite them. He may shine away from SF like Buckner did (to a lesser degree, I'd expect).

I wouldn't get hung up on the numbers of any of these guys really. At least not yet. Kwity's presence was severely missed against the run when he was injured. He also probably could've been a double-digit sack guy if he didn't miss four games, leave one early, and barely play in another. Dayo also continues to get better and both these guys are only entering year 3.