49ers 2019 ‘Who Is?’ series: Healthy Kwon Alexander for a full year

The 49ers should be happy Kwon Alexander is back healthy in 2020.

When the San Francisco 49ers inked then-free-agent linebacker Kwon Alexander to a lucrative four-year $54 million contract during the 2019 offseason, it wasn’t hard to raise some eyebrows and ask some serious questions.

After all, Alexander’s new deal was the biggest given to a linebacker, although that record was soon surpassed elsewhere. Yet the diminishing amount of cap space available to the Niners still created some concerns.

Perhaps that’s why the team restructured his contract late in the year by creating three voidable years and saving his total hit for 2020.

Either way, Alexander figured to be a major figure in San Francisco’s defense last year, earning plenty of praise from head coach Kyle Shanahan before the regular season began.

Yet Alexander’s impact was only partially felt.

On Oct. 31 of 2019 in a Week 9 game against the Arizona Cardinals, Alexander suffered a torn pectoral muscle and was projected to be lost for the rest of the season. As far as regular-season games went, he was. But Alexander was able to make a heroic comeback for the playoffs and participated in the 49ers run through Super Bowl LIV.

That said, it was pretty clear Alexander wasn’t at 100 percent. He was credited with three missed tackles during the Super Bowl, according to Pro Football Focus, and one could only wonder if the injury was still hindering him.

Despite the injury, Alexander still managed a combined 33 tackles on the season and was one of the 49ers’ biggest leaders.

Fully healthy and grouped with a deep crop of linebackers heading into 2020, what should be fans’ expectations for the veteran defender?

Why Kwon Alexander Improves with 49ers in 2020

The biggest thing Alexander can do this upcoming season is stay healthy.

The last time the 25-year-old linebacker played a full season was back in 2016, a year before his Pro Bowl campaign when he only appeared in 12 games. But it’s important to note his age here, understanding Alexander is just now hitting the prime of his career.

When Alexander is on, he’s one of the league’s better playmaking linebackers. Remember, he led the league with 108 solo tackles that 2016 season. And anyone watching him play should understand his knack for being around the ball.

Especially in pass defense, where PFF handed Alexander a career-high 81.3 coverage grade last season. San Francisco boasts three excellent pass-coverage linebackers now in Alexander, Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw.

If Alexander is able to shore up his tackling efforts and can stay healthy over the course of a full season, fans should see the full array of reasons the Niners brought him aboard just over a year ago.

Why Kwon Alexander Regresses in 2020

Injuries are always going to be a present concern, and this season could be similar.

But the on-field aspect of regression can still be attributed to potentially missed tackles. PFF credited him with 13 missed tackles, including playoffs, and eight during the regular season. Extrapolated out to a full 16-game slate, that would be 16 misses and would be tied for ninth most among linebackers last year.

The 49ers aren’t going to change from their wide-9 defensive line alignment, either, meaning the Niners will still have to defend against interior runs, putting more pressure on linebackers to make tackles.

Alexander has a reputation for being a merely OK tackler, particularly during his first three seasons in the league when he was regularly over 20 missed tackles per season. Last year’s splits suggest he cut down on this, and the hope is for that trend to continue.

But a torn pectoral and subsequent recovery could feasibly impact that effort in the wrong direction.

Projected Role with 49ers in 2020

As noted earlier, the Niners are deep at linebacker. While Alexander, Greenlaw and Warner will all be on the field in base formations, the prevalence of three-wide offenses in today’s NFL means nickel defenses — with only two linebackers on the field — have become the norm.

Alexander’s elongated injury had one major bonus: prompting Greenlaw into a featured role in which he thrived. This is great news for San Francisco, of course, as defensive coordinator Robert Saleh can now rotate his backers and keep them fresh throughout the course of the season.

While Saleh’s defensive arrangements now have the linebackers in a much more interchangeable setup, Alexander still projects to be more of a weak-side (WILL) linebacker, letting Warner handle the MIKE and defensive play-calling duties.

That’s fine, especially considering WILL linebackers tend to be of the playmaking types, while MIKEs often do the between-the-tackles dirty work.

Regardless, the major hope is for Alexander to display his talents fully healthy over the course of an entire year and hopefully into the playoffs. That’s the reason the 49ers brought him aboard, and hopefully 2020 is the year in which he rewards them with his level of play.