Peter King and we are 2 of the Top 10 for him..both about Willis

6. I think the 49ers did right by rewarding a good player, leader and person, Patrick Willis, with two years left on his rookie contract.

7. I think one of the reasons San Francisco did right by rewarding Willis is he's the perfect on-field representative of coach Mike Singletary.

6. I think the 49ers did right by rewarding a good player, leader and person, Patrick Willis, with two years left on his rookie contract. Of course, the five-year, $50-million extension isn't as good as he could have gotten had he played out his deal. But that's the tradeoff -- Willis gets $26 million guaranteed and the peace of mind to know if he suffers a serious injury, he's already hit it mostly big. "This is where I want to be,'' Willis told me the other day. "It's where I feel comfortable, and I see us doing everything we can to try to win now. Why think about playing anywhere else.''

That's the rub -- the Niners never would have let him walk anyway. If I'm him, I take the money now because you don't know what's around the corner, either in terms of health or in the financial structure of the league.

7. I think one of the reasons San Francisco did right by rewarding Willis is he's the perfect on-field representative of coach Mike Singletary. "I like how he coaches, and I agree with how he coaches,'' Willis said of Singletary. "Straight, old school, me versus you, go through me if you want to make the play. As a defense, we don't believe in tricking anyone, or running around people. I'm fortunate that coach Singletary got me at the beginning. He was able to mold me from the start of my NFL career.''

Singletary was the Niners' assistant head coach and linebackers coach when Willis was drafted in 2008, then became the interim head coach when Mike Nolan was fired in October 2008. It's not that Singletary tried to re-make Willis in his image; he didn't have to. But it's interesting to see that a young, aggressive, talented inside linebacker takes mentoring from a guy whose career was peaking the year Willis was born (1985). Singletary's not a guy Willis would have watched much on TV as a kid. I like that he trusts what Singletary says in his coaching, and even can kid him a little bit, which he did after watching some tape of his coach and seeing him run around an offensive lineman rather that run through him the way he now preaches. These two guys were made for each other.