49ers roster 2021: Daeshon Hall in for a larger role?
By Peter Panacy
49ers EDGE Daeshon Hall wasn’t a strong candidate to make the 53-man roster, but that could change with Jordan Willis’ suspension.
In 2020, the San Francisco 49ers had some success turning an underachieving pass-rusher, Jordan Willis, into a decent rotational player. After being acquired via trade with the New York Jets, Willis posted a career-best 3.5 sacks on an abbreviated campaign with the Niners a year ago.
Perhaps San Francisco can do the same with a player it picked up late last year, EDGE Daeshon Hall.
The 49ers may have to. Especially in light of Willis being suspended for the first six games of the upcoming 2021 season because of a league PED violation. And while Willis wasn’t projected to be a primary pass-rusher, his job as a rotational piece is one Hall might be forced to occupy.
Hall, a third-round pick of the Carolina Panthers in the 2017 NFL Draft out of Texas A&M, has bounced around the league a lot since missing all but one game his rookie season with an injury that landed him on injured reserve.
| Game | Game | Tack | Tack | Tack | Tack | Tack | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Age | Tm | No. | G | GS | Sk | Comb | Solo | Ast | TFL | QBHits |
| 2017 | 22 | CAR | 94 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | |||||
| 2018 | 23 | PHI | 74 | 3 | 0 | 0.5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2019 | 24 | PHI | 74 | 9 | 0 | 1.0 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Care | Care | 13 | 1.5 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 3 | |||
| 2 yr | 2 yr | PHI | 12 | 0 | 1.5 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 3 | |
| 1 yr | 1 yr | CAR | 1 | 0 | 0.0 |
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com
Generated 6/22/2021.
In addition to seeing field time with the Philadelphia Eagles, Hall had brief stints with the Jets and Houston Texans as well as a previous tenure with the Niners on the practice squad back in 2018.
San Francisco added him back to the practice squad late in 2020 and subsequently inked him to a reserve/futures contract in January of this year.
If it weren’t for Willis’ suspension, Hall might be nothing more than a training camp body entering 2021. Yet Willis is suspended, meaning Hall could end up shouldering more responsibility for the 49ers this year.
Why Daeshon Hall improves with 49ers in 2021
Opportunity is the best thing a reserve player can ask for, and Hall arguably gets one of his best chances as a pro here.
At 26 years old, the Niners can hope Hall somehow rediscovers the prowess he had with Texas A&M back in 2015 when he had seven sacks — a number that certainly helped him get drafted two years later even though his 2016 sack totals capped out at 3.5.
The 6-foot-5, 265-pound Hall looks the part of a quality pass-rusher but just hasn’t been able to put the combination of his long arms and physique together on an NFL field. Perhaps this changes with more reps during training camp and under the tutelage of defensive line coach Kris Kocurek.
Why Daeshon Hall flattens out with 49ers in 2021
While still young, it’s fair to wonder if the nature of play from Hall over the last four seasons is essentially his ceiling — a low-end, bottom-of-the-roster pass-rusher who’s capable of bouncing around the league but never finding a long-term home.
One of the knocks on him during his college tenure was the lack of practical play strength, and it’s fair to assume that hasn’t necessarily improved over his pro career either. True, it’s possible Hall is emerging as a late bloomer.
But the fact so many other teams have essentially relegated him to a mere depth piece or practice squad body says a lot about what his future might hold.
Chances of making 49ers’ 53-man roster
San Francisco doesn’t have a ton of pass-rushing depth behind the presumed starting trio of Nick Bosa, Samson Ebukam and Arik Armstead, which works in Hall’s favor.
A key X-factor in all of this is whether or not EDGE Dee Ford is able to return from a back injury that held him out of all but one game last season. If Ford returns sooner than anticipated, Hall’s already-slim roster chances take an even bigger hit.
And they could anyway, provided the 49ers go after one of the remaining free agents still available on the pass-rushing market.
Related Story: 49ers can sign EDGE Melvin Ingram after Jordan Willis suspension
Whether or not a transaction like that happens is anyone’s guess. If it doesn’t, Hall goes from the weaker portions of the roster bubble to somewhere in the middle, which isn’t terrible. And the Niners may elect to keep him in such a capacity, even if Hall is a weekly inactive, until either Ford and/or Willis returns.
Hall will need to put forth an exceptional training camp, though, which would go a long way towards improving his roster chances.
If that pans out, he could find himself occupying one of those key depth spots on the 53-man roster as a supplementary pass-rusher.
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