49ers roster: 3 positions Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch wish they addressed better
By Peter Panacy
No. 3: 49ers put too much hope on Nick Bosa in the pass-rush department
One of the mainstays of John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan’s roster-building technique in recent years has been to be strong in the trenches, and there have been multiple cases of investing high-profile draft capital in doing so.
Such as the 2019 first-round drafting of EDGE Nick Bosa.
Bosa, after tearing his ACL early in 2020, has been absolutely dominant this season, currently boasting 15 sacks and a league-best 19 tackles for a loss. Yet San Francisco hasn’t found the complementary pass-rushing numbers elsewhere on the roster to support Bosa enough. With opponents frequently featuring max protection or chip blocking him, the 49ers pass rush has generally featured “feast or famine” results.
True, depth EDGEs like Arden Key and Samson Ebukam, two offseason free-agent pickups, have had modest successes here and there. But the bulk of high-caliber pass-rushing defenses has at least two bona fide pass-rushers in an arsenal.
The Niners don’t.
Perhaps San Francisco was hoping for even modest production out of oft-injured EDGE Dee Ford, whose contract mandated he stayed on the roster anyway despite his back injury. Yet the 49ers didn’t target a pass-rusher in the 2021 draft, and aside from Ebukam and Key, they didn’t make too much of an effort on the free-agent market either.
As a result, unless Bosa is getting home, the Niners’ pass rush is suffering.