Aldon Smith ranks in the all-time elite tier for pass rushers — a career that places Smith in the top 5% of all players at the position. The Knox value model assigns Smith a career score of 84, reflecting sustained impact that most players at the position never approach.

On the boards· Appears on 3 boards

DEDAL#58ACT

Aldon Smith

1× Pro Bowl1× All-ProTop 4% all-time pass rushersIron Legend🌅 Early Bloomer · 2012

Height6'4"

Weight280 lb

Career Value · VORP

161 career value over replacement — #576 all-time of 4,695. 26.8/season above a replacement-level EDGE.

Career Profile

2 top-10 seasonstop-10 marks

Draft OutcomeSteal ↑

Pick #7 (Rd 1) · SF · 2011 · +20.7 vs expected KV-H

84actual

63.3 expected · Δ+20.7

💔+37 stolen VORP·1.38 szns lost

Fan Rating

Rate Aldon Smith — All-Time

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All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 27% of the all-time Sacks leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

27% of the all-time Sacks leader27

1 category ≥25% of the all-time leader33

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leader at this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 93%.

Encyclopedia Coverage7/8 data layers

StatVault aggregates multiple open-licensed and proprietary sources into a single profile. The depth indicator above shows which layers are available for this player.

Bio & DraftBirth date, height/weight, draft round/pick, college — sourced from nflverse players.csv (CC-BY 4.0). Covers all NFL eras.

Season Stats (1999–present)Week-by-week box scores aggregated to season totals: passing, rushing, receiving, defense. Source: nflverse player_stats. Counting stats are exact; rates are derived.

Advanced (EPA, 1999–present)Not available for this player

Snap Counts (2012–present)Offensive, defensive, and special-teams snap counts with team-share percentages. Essential for OL and situational players. Source: nflverse snap_counts.

Defensive StatsMaterial defensive production only: playmaking stats, 10+ tackles, or 50+ defensive snaps. Source: nflverse player_stats and snap_counts.

College StatsCollege attribution is present, but this profile artifact does not yet carry a parsed college stat table.

NFL Combine / Pro Day40-yard dash, vertical, broad jump, 3-cone, shuttle, bench press. Source: nflverse combine.csv.

Where this data comes from

Modern-era stats (1999+) come from nflverse's open data releases. Pre-1999 seasons are backfilled additively from Wikipedia and NFL.com's own official season pages — never from rights-restricted sources.

nflverse — CC-BY 4.0 — attribution required
Wikipedia — Facts extracted under Feist v. Rural Telephone; courtesy CC-BY-SA attribution
NFL.com — Official league site; facts extracted under Feist, courtesy attribution

Methodology · Trust Center

Per-Snap Impact

Edge Rushers · proprietary · 2012+

Above average

SIS

Disruption / 100 snaps:4.14See leaderboard →

Disruption/1004.14Snap share79.7%Def snaps2,319ReliableCV 0.34

Production per snap — the box score normalized by opportunity. SIS is z-scored within edge rushers, shrinkage-regularized so small samples don't spike, over the NFL snap-count era (2012+).

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). = average edge rushers aging curve. Group peak age: 25. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

Combine · 2011

Percentiles compare each raw measurement against position peers, the full combine pool, and the same draft class where enough samples exist.

EDGE · 2011 class

4.74s

40-Yard

Above avg · 60th pct

Pos 60thAll 43thClass Pos 62thClass All 44th

34"

Vertical

Above avg · 59th pct

Pos 59thAll 56thClass Pos 69thClass All 62th

118"

Broad Jump

Understanding These Stats

Defense

Tkl / Solo / Ast — Combined tackles (Solo + ½ Assist). Solo = unassisted. Ast = helped by a teammate.

TFL — Tackles for loss — stops made behind the line of scrimmage (run stuffs + QB contain).

QBHits — QB hits — any legal contact on the quarterback, including but beyond sacks (hurries that land).

Sk — Sacks — tackled the QB behind the line for a loss. Half-sacks shared between defenders.

Dis — Disruption plays = sacks + QB hits + TFL. The composite pass-rush / run-stop impact stat for one season. Elite pass rushers post 30+ disruption plays per season.

Int — Interceptions caught by this defender.

PD — Passes defended — deflections and breakups.

FF / FR — Forced fumbles (stripped or jarred loose). Fumble Recoveries.

TD — Defensive touchdowns — picks, fumble returns, safeties returned.

Sfty — Safeties — tackled the ball carrier in their own end zone.

Snap Counts (2012–present)

Postseason Career

8 playoff games

Defense

Tkl20Solo13Ast7TFL5QBHits15Sk5.5Dis25.5FF2

College Stats

MissouriCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Missouri), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

Top Teammates

Michael CrabtreeWR5y Andy LeeP4y Frank GoreRB4y Justin SmithDE4y

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Aldon inherited the San Francisco 49ers DL room from Justin Smith (2008–2014), and handed it to Arik Armstead (2015–2023).

Fred Dean 1981–1985Dwaine Board 1981–1987Jeff Stover 1982–1988Charles Haley 1986–1999Pierce Holt 1988–1992Dennis Brown

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Movementderived from season history

2020team change
Joined DAL (from OAK)
2020final season
Last recorded season with DAL
2015team change
Joined OAK (from SF)
2011draft
Drafted by SF — Round 1, Pick 7

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'4" / 280 lb

Frame

263 lb at 4.74s

Size-speed

34" vert / 118" broad

Explosion

20 reps

Bench power

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 6-season peers. See all →

peak 88

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

A+2011

A+2012

A2013

C2014

B2015

B2020

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 6 seasons.

77%

Era Translator

Sacks translated to the 2025 NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Sacks	Sacks/G	→ 2025 Sacks	→ 2025 /G
2011	14	0.9	15+1	0.9
2012	19.5	1.2	19-0.5	1.1
2013	8.5	0.9	13+4.5	0.8
2014	2	0.3	5+3	0.3
2015	3.5	0.4	6+2.5	0.4
2020	5	0.3	6+1	0.3

Data: nflverse:players, nflverse:player_stats_def, nflverse:snap_counts, nflverse:combine, nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:injuries · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 8/31/2026

Proprietary StatVault Metrics

KV-H (Knox Value-Historical) — Era-normalized career rating 0–100 within position group, calibrated so a 50 = average starter and 90+ = all-time great. Covers 1999–present. Built on a 5-year IQR/robust-std era window.

SIS (Snap Impact Score) — Per-snap production z-scored within position group and era (2012+). Measures how much a player produced per opportunity, not raw volume.

VORP (Value Over Replacement) — Sum of max(0, season KV-H − positional replacement level) across a career. Measures career value above the minimum-roster baseline at each position.

Durability IQ — 0–100 score reflecting how many games a player played relative to peers at the same position in the same era. Adjusts for injury-shortened seasons.