49ers give Willis 29 reasons to stay in San Francisco
Written by bajansportswiz, Wednesday May 05 2010
San Francisco 49ers' All-Pro, Pro-Bowl middle linebacker Patrick Willis is now the highest paid middle linebacker in NFL history. The club resigned their franchise defensive player to a five-year extention through 2016. The contract is worth $50 million with $29 million being guranteed.
Since being drafted in the first round of the 2007 draft, Willis has proven to be one of the best, if not the best at his position. He led the league in tackles his rookie season; which led to him winning the defensive rookie of the year award. He ranked second in tackles his second season and first again in 2009. He won the Butkus Award, given to nation's top middle linebacker in high school, college and pros, at Ole Miss University and was the first pro recipitant of the award this past season.
Even his biggest compettiors for the all-time top middle linebacker crown give him abundant praises. Baltimore Raven Ray Lewis stated Willis was one of the best in business after his rookie year and called him the "Truth." Head coach Mike Singletary, who is an Hall of Fame middle linebacker, repeatidely has stated that he thinks Willis will be leaps and bounds better than he ever was when Willis retires.
Lewis and Singletary (who also coached Lewis) will be the players that he will be most constantly compared to and if they think he is great. Who are we to argue?
The 49ers want to build a team based on strong character with sense of family. Willis embodies all the virtues the franchise's value the most. He is an honest, respectful, and hard working athlete who is willing to give his all on every play to help his team win. He also basically single handly raised his two younger siblings for period of time when he was in high school.
This is going to sound cliche but hard work and doing the right thing pays off in the end, and Willis' new $10 million a year deal is concrete evidence of it.
Willis stated in an interview that he still hasn't reached his full potential as a player and that he will be wearing "Red and Gold when the 49ers win their sixth Vince Lombardi trophy.
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2 comments
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Totally--and on another note, this is likely the first of a few young players the team will lock up (or hope to lock up?) over the next season or so. Frank Gore, Vernon Davis, Dashon Goldson, Josh Morgan--it will be interesting to see how much of the core they can extend.
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Bajan, I think you mean 29 MILLION reasons