I think you have a glorified view of a lot of players on that 1992 team.
With good reason wouldnt you agree? they were 13-3, won the toughest division in football. Spanked two excellent teams in the postseason to get to the Super Bowl and then destroyed a veteran Bills team appearing in a 3rd straight Super Bowl. They were the youngest team in football with an elite offense and the #1 ranked defense in football.
Harper certainly wasn't one of the best big-play guys in 1992. He made a big play in the NFC title game, but he didn't do a lot that season. Patrick Crayton had more catches, more yards, more touchdowns AND a higher YPC average this season than Harper did in 1992. A disappointing Roy Williams had more catches, more yards, more touchdowns and only a slightly lower YPC (16.1 to 15.7) this year despite missing a game. He had the same number of catches that went 20-plus yards and the same number of catches that went 40-plus yards as Harper did in 1992, and he had more catches for first downs. And his longest catch was longer than Harper's longest catch.
I think you are overrating pure stats here, because the game was a little different. The 92 team was more run oriented (we were right at a 50-50 run/pass blance, with 491 passes and 500 rushes). This years team threw the ball 550 times and ran it 436. Harper was a better downfield WR than either RW or Crayton are.
Haley had only six sacks in 1992 and probably never dropped into coverage. Ware had 11 sacks this season.
As I said before, I'd never contend Haley was a betetr overall player than Ware, but Haley was an elite pass rusher. He was also having to convert from a 3-4 OLB in the Niners scheme to a pure 4-3 DE with us.
Jones was a rookie who, like you said, was benched the next season. James and Brooking are two of the main leaders of our defense, and they're bigger playmakers than Jones ever was for us.
I guess I dont know how you'd quantify that James and Brooking are bigger playmakers. Niether make many plays vs the pass, they do get some sacks, but they blitz a whole lot mroe than any of our LB's did in 1992.
Maryland was a good player who made one Pro Bowl (not 1992) in his career because he was on a great team. Ratliff is an All-Pro caliber player who should be a perennial Pro Bowl player.
Ratliff is a tremendous pass rusher, but I still think Maryland was better vs the run. Would love to have seen ratliff in our old 4-3 though, he'd be amazing.
Kevin Smith wasn't an "outstanding player" in 1992, if he ever was one. He was a rookie who didn't even start until late in the season. He was nowhere near the level that Newman and Jenkins are right now. For most of that season, a lot of people considered him a bust, because he was on the bench while a 12th-round draft pick was starting. Newman, that so-called "non-playmaker," had as many interceptions this season as Brown and Smith had combined in 1992. And Jenkins had more.
Brown was a 12th rd pick in 1991 and was an eastablished young starter. They drafted Smith to replace veteran Isaac Holt, and he did after 9 or 10 games. He was an outstanding man cover CB who basically took away whomever he guarded, including Jerry Rice. I dont recall everything from the 92 season, but I definitely dont remember anyone thinking he was a "bust"
Washington and Everett were decent players but were nothing special, just like Hamlin and Sensabaugh. You might give the 1992 guys a slight edge because both Hamlin and Sensabaugh missed games with injuries this season, but they're pretty comparable as players.
Our current safeties do not make plays, those safeties did. They also played alot more physical and rarely, if ever missed tackles.
And Casillas managed only two or three sacks per season, with a career high of three. That's just like Olshansky, whose career high is 3.5. That's a push.
Its hard to say because of some of the scheme differences, but Casillas was definitely more active than Olshansky is. He also got 3 sacks alone in the NFC Championship game vs SF, and I believe thats the franchise record for msot sacks in a postseason game. Like Olshansky, Casillas came out in most passing situations, so the lack of sacks doesnt really tell the whole story. Again, it was a little different game then too.
As a team from man 1 through man 53, the 92 team was considerably more talented and IMO would be our current team rather easily. Thats not a knock on this team either, as they'd beat any of todays teams easily.