San Francisco 49ers: 2019 ‘State of the Franchise’ (defensive line)

Niner Noise continues its ‘State of the Franchise’ series with a look at the defensive line, where the San Francisco 49ers invested a lot of picks and money into beefing it up for this season.

While the San Francisco 49ers secondary came into a lot of criticism last season, I thought it was a bit harsh on the players out there.

Yes, the secondary wasn’t impressive in 2018. But can anyone really say that it wasn’t in no small part because of the Niners’ abysmal performance in the trenches?

Well, the team certainly thought so as it beefed up the defensive line a lot, while the secondary received comparatively less attention during the offseason.

We’ll get to the secondary soon. But today, it’s time to evaluate what the situation is for the defensive trenches.

In the “State of the Franchise” series, we look at the current state of the 2019 roster as the 49ers get closer to training camp, position by position.

We won’t be doing full player profiles, for those we recommend taking a look at the “Who Is?” series by Niner Noise.

Let’s take a look at the changes made.

2019 State of the Franchise: Defensive line

Arik Armstead

Arik Armstead gets criticized for not living up to his status as a former first-round selection, so it may surprise some to learn he played at a reasonably high level last season.

Given a 74.8 grade by Pro Football Focus, good enough to be the 36th-rated EDGE and “above average,” Armstead put together his best season since his rookie year.

The reason for his high score is because he’s one of the best players against the run, ranking third among all EDGE players with at least 200 snaps with a 87.4 grade (at least to Week 14 last season). He even has decent grades when it comes to rushing the passer, too, with only his tackling being a concern.

With less pressure on him, given a stacked defensive line, Armstead could be a potential dark horse to break out this season with a more rotational role.

Ronald Blair

A decent rotational piece to have, Ronald Blair notched up 5.5 sacks despite not starting a game last season.

He could be used as a pass-rushing specialist and notch up a similar amount this season. However, his roster spot is not yet assured given the young 49ers talent on the defensive line.

Nick Bosa

The best EDGE by far in the draft class, Nick Bosa is in a good situation where he has two talented teammates next to him to take the attention away.

With a stunning array of moves and deceptive speed, Bosa will be exciting to watch this season.

Oh and don’t worry about his contract situation, he’s hardly the only one in the NFL without a deal.

DeForest Buckner

The jewel of the 49ers defense in general, DeForest Buckner promises to have a much more pleasant season with some weapons around him.

Buckner won’t have to shoulder all the load this time, and the resulting divided attention should free him up a little more for 2019.

Sheldon Day

Sheldon Day is a rotational defensive tackle who has some skills rushing the passer. He’s on the roster bubble, but could remain on the roster with a strong preseason.

Dee Ford

Dee Ford is the big move the 49ers made in the offseason, surrendering a mere second-round selection, because the Kansas City Chiefs are moving to a different defense. San Francisco promptly signed Ford to a five-year deal worth $87.5 million, but the 49ers do have a get out clause after one year.

While there are questions on whether Ford can adjust to a base 4-3 defense after moving from what was a 3-4 defense, Ford has enough talent on the line next to him to make it work.

Jamell Garcia-Williams

I’ll be honest, I don’t really do preliminary research on these positional groups so when I get to an undrafted rookie free agent, my first reaction is always “Who?”.

Out of UAB, Jamell Garcia-Williams had a strong senior season with 9.5 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss.

Considering he only started for his senior year and his 6-foot-8 frame, there is some potential practice squad intrigue for Garcia Williams, provided he adds some weight to his 255 pounds he already has.

Kevin Givens

Speaking of undrafted free agents, Kevin Givens also joins the roster out of Penn State.

Givens, is an intriguing prospect as he was given a sixth- or seventh-round grade by NFL.com.

Relatively short, at 6-foot-1, Givens has a very powerful base at 281 pounds and does has some advantages when it comes to leverage. He’ll bear watching in both camp and preseason.

D.J. Jones

From a late-round draft choice to solid rotational piece, D.J. Jones has starting potential as the big run-stuffing force next to Buckner.

While he won’t see much playing time as the primary nose tackle, being the favorite to assume that role should ensure Jones is on the roster this season.

Kapron Lewis-Moore

Kapron Lewis-Moore is a veteran defensive lineman who has bounced around the league for various teams without featuring in the regular season. This won’t change this year.

Kentavius Street

Fresh off a medical redshirt for his rookie year, Kentavius Street is a wild card heading into the preseason.

It’s hard to determine what will happen, given we haven’t seen him in action. But because the 49ers invested a fourth-round selection last year, it’s probable they won’t want to part with such an investment so soon.

Pencil him in for a likely roster spot.

Jullian Taylor

After Jullian Taylor impressed in camp as a mere seventh-round selection last year, he was rewarded with a spot on the roster and even some playing time in the regular season where he showed some serious potential in limited action.

Taylor is teetering on the edge of the divide between strong and weak roster bubble. His performance in preseason will determine which side he falls on.

Solomon Thomas

Simply put, more is needed from Solomon Thomas to stop him becoming a huge bust as the former No. 3 overall selection. Fortunately for Thomas, he’s being put in a position to finally flourish on the stacked 49ers defensive line.

The key will be to put him more inside, like in his Stanford days, and have him play against interior linemen instead of tackles more suited to dealing with speed.

Thomas must step up, as there’s plenty of depth behind him that could overtake him.

Cedric Thornton

Cedric Thornton is an aging veteran who is in San Francisco for a second tenure (hopefully a bit longer than his first).

With a year out of the game, a stronger defensive line and his age counting against him he has to really perform in preseason to make it to Week 1.

I don’t see him making the roster.

Prediction

The 49ers would keep between eight and defensive linemen on their roster, with one or two being inactive for game days.

Bosa, Buckner, Ford, Thomas and Armstead should be locks for this season, while Jones looks like he has the nose tackle position sown up for No. 6.

Teams need solid rotational pieces for third downs, so Blair looks like a strong contender to stay on the roster.

Street looks like he’s on the strong-bubble side of things, given the team invested a decent pick in him a year prior, and he hasn’t been on the field yet (a situation the 49ers knew would transpire when he was picked, so cutting him for that would be baffling).

That’s seven, so that would leave the rest scrambling for the remaining one or two spots. Day and Taylor would be my picks for those spots (assuming the number is nine), and they probably would be on the inactive list.

Keep an eye out for Givens and Garcia-Williams, however, as both have some intriguing upside that could see one or both stashed onto the practice squad.