The last time the 49ers won a Super Bowl, Kyle Shanahan’s father, Mike Shanahan, was calling plays as George Seifert’s offensive coordinator. A year later, Seifert hired Pete Carroll as 49ers defensive coordinator. As was the case during in the 1980s and ’90s, whenever the 49ers hired a...
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The 49ers had the “elephant” position – a player who generally lined up at defensive end and was designed to mainly rush the passer. The 49ers now have a derivative of the position called the “Leo.”
The prototypical “elephant” was a smaller player who could line up anywhere and use speed and agility to get to the quarterback. However, the 49ers’ top “Leo” is Arik Armstead, who stands 6 foot 7. He dropped 15 pounds to increase his quickness and explosion.
However, Seifert said the original “elephant” was a college player at Stanford who had similar size to Armstead. Brian Holloway stood 6 foot 7 and weighed approximately the same as Armstead's current 275 pounds.
“He eventually became an offensive lineman in the NFL,” Seifert said of Holloway. “He was a big, talented athlete and we needed a pass-rusher. We created a fourth lineman and moved him around to rush at our advantage.
“When we got to the 49ers, we started doing the same thing with Fred Dean,” Seifert said.
Then, Charles Haley became a dominant player in the same role.
“He kind of became the anchor point of the defense. He was a great pass rusher and we put him in an advantageous position. And our coverage, wherever he was, would revolve toward him.”
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