San Francisco 49ers: 3 discreet challenges team will face in 2020
By Peter Panacy
No. 1: Defensive Line Depth
It’s no secret losing DeForest Buckner hurts. He was an anchor piece around which the 49ers pass-rushers, namely Arik Armstead and Nick Bosa, could find the kind of success they enjoyed in 2019.
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There’s no one player who can replace Buckner in full. But that’s not the discreet worry here.
Instead, it’s the depth behind Buckner’s absence which could prove to be detrimental. In addition to losing Buckner, the Niners also missed out on re-signing backup defensive tackle Sheldon Day, who ate up over 30 percent of defensive snaps last season. Defensive lineman Ronald Blair is also coming off a second-half ACL tear, so his full-strength availability will be in question to start 2019.
San Francisco experienced a bit of this D-line attrition late last year, including the Blair injury. It wasn’t hard to observe the 49ers defense wasn’t quite as prolific when it had to dive deep into the reserve pool of backups, both relying more on less-proven players while asking starters to assume more of the snaps.
Simpy put, San Francisco’s D-line depth is nowhere near what it was during the high point of last year’s defensive success.
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And with limited resources in the upcoming 2020 NFL Draft, it’s not likely the Niners will be able to adequately address this well enough.