SF 49ers vs. Cowboys: 3 best individual performances from Week 15

No. 2: SF 49ers DL Arik Armstead

SF 49ers defensive lineman Arik Armstead has received a lot of flak for the season he’s had after signing a massive five-year, $85 million contract with the team in the offseason. Many believe San Francisco made the wrong decision in keeping Armstead over now-Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle DeForest Bucker, an argument we won’t get into here.

Armstead may be the player who has suffered most from the loss of edge rushers like Nick Bosa and Dee Ford, as he feasted last season on the pressure that particular pair, along with Buckner, created on opposing quarterbacks.

Fair or not, the criticism has followed Armstead throughout the season, but he finally had a game where he made a lot of noise, having had a solid if unspectacular season through much of 2020.

The defensive lineman finished with eight total tackles and two sacks to go along with two additional quarterback hits.

While those sacks only bring his season tally to 3.5 — nowhere near the 10 he racked up in 2019 — he also seemed livelier in attacking the quarterback than he had through much of the season.

This was good to see.

One of the more encouraging stats regarding Armstead’s performance on Sunday comes via NFL’s Next Gen Stats, which registered the defender’s average distance from the quarterback at the time of a throw or sack at 4.35 yards, a tick below the league average of 4.52 yards.

This means most of Armstead’s pass-rush snaps were effective, even if he only registered the two sacks. NGS’s number seems to match up nicely with the seven pressures Armstead notched according to PFF.

SF 49ers’ fans should hope to see more of this from Armstead in the coming seasons, and with Bosa returning in 2021, that should lead to more interior pressure from Armstead next season.