SF 49ers can expect big things from Javon Kinlaw in 2021

The SF 49ers received promising-yet-inconsistent play from their top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Javon Kinlaw, but 2021 should be much better.

The SF 49ers‘ top pick from the 2020 NFL Draft, former South Carolina defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw, had some massive shoes to fill in the wake of that offseason’s blockbuster trade that sent Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to the Indianapolis Colts.

Kinlaw wasn’t going to be Buckner in year one. But the Niners’ decision to essentially replace Buckner with Kinlaw put unfair pressure on the rookie to deliver the kind of immediate impact few rookies can produce right out of the gate.

And in a sense, the immediate emergence of San Francisco’s top pick from the 2019 draft, EDGE Nick Bosa, also made the expectation level for Kinlaw a year later a bit unfair, too.

Kinlaw had an OK season, finishing with 33 tackles, three of which were for a loss, 1.5 sacks, four passes knocked down and an impressive interception returned for a touchdown. He also finished with 19 total pressures and 20 defensive stops, according to Pro Football Focus.

PFF gave Kinlaw an underwhelming 54.1 overall grade on the season. In contrast, Buckner’s rookie year resulted in a 71.6 overall grade for what turned into a 2-14 SF 49ers squad in 2016.

So, naturally, some feel Kinlaw might be little more than just a decent player and a far cry from what Buckner ended up being when he joined the league.

Yet that’s not quite a fair assessment of Kinlaw. For starters, Buckner was far more polished than Kinlaw when joining the NFL. If anything, Kinlaw was much more like another former Niners first-round pick, defensive end Arik Armstead, who wasn’t quite the sum of his parts when he was selected in 2015.

As for Kinlaw, there are more than enough reasons to assume his trajectory will reach impressive levels his second year at the pro level.

Why SF 49ers get much more from Javon Kinlaw in 2021

Kinlaw had himself a slowish start to his pro career, but those impact plays (his interception and 1.5 sacks) came from Week 10 onward. While he might not be a pure sack specialist, one might expect top-performing defensive linemen to be involved in those kinds of plays more frequently as they develop.

In Kinlaw’s case, this was pretty evident.

PFF backed up the idea Kinlaw is on the right path, too, saying:

"Javon Kinlaw missed the last few weeks of the season due to injury, but he had been a player who flashed playmaking ability and disruption along the 49ers’ defensive front before that point.Kinlaw’s grades are underwhelming, but the tape shows the kind of potential he has both against the run and as a pass rusher. His task now will be to iron out the inconsistency and bring that kind of impact on a much more regular basis because too much of what happened between those flashes wasn’t great. He had 19 total pressures and 20 defensive stops on the season."

SF 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, whose efforts with a banged-up defense this season will likely earn him a head-coaching job elsewhere in 2021, echoed the sentiments, both about Kinlaw’s growth and why it’s reasonable to temper his expectations in the wake of Bosa’s 2019 campaign:

"There’s no splash plays, but with regards to Javon, I think his track this year and what he’s been able to do as a rookie has been awesome. I think a lot of people, especially in this area, got spoiled with [DL Nick] Bosa last year, because it’s kind of a unicorn type season that he had a year ago for a rookie. For Javon, I just think the world of him and what he’s been able to do this season."

It’s also important to point out the absence of players like Bosa and fellow EDGE Dee Ford, whose injuries mostly prevented the Niners from boasting a lethal speed rush from a Wide 9 alignment, which would have opened up more interior opportunities for a player like Kinlaw.

Kinlaw and Armstead, the latter boasting a 10-sack campaign in 2019 but had 3.5 last season, became the de facto best players on a shorthanded San Francisco defensive line.

With Bosa projected to be back from his ACL tear in 2021, that will no longer be the case.

A deeper and more healthy crop of defensive linemen only serves to benefit Kinlaw, who’ll also be able to hone his own abilities while managing the returns of much-needed reinforcements.

And maybe, Kinlaw will get to that level Buckner was when he hit his own Pro Bowl level.