Pro Football Focus snubs 49ers defensive line from top 5 rankings

Critics of Pro Football Focus aren’t going to be happy with where they ranked the 49ers defensive line heading into 2022, although it’s not entirely bad.

The San Francisco 49ers own a top-10 defensive line, according to the folks over at Pro Football Focus with the 2022 season not far down the road.

Just not a top-five unit.

General manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan have made a habit of reinforcing their D-line on a seemingly yearly basis. From 2017 through 2022, the Niners have used their first pick in the NFL Draft on a defensive lineman, including this year’s selection of former USC EDGE Drake Jackson at No. 61 overall.

But Jackson’s addition apparently wasn’t enough to prompt PFF from placing San Francisco’s D-line in the top five in their annual season-preview piece of all 32 teams’ defensive fronts.

Pro Football Focus ranks 49ers defensive line 6th best entering 2022

Here are the teams comprising that top-five group:

1. Los Angeles Rams
2. Washington Commanders
3. Green Bay Packers
4. Pittsburgh Steelers
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The 49ers barely missed this cut, ranking at No. 6, although it’s important to note PFF did include the Niners in the “elite” category, reserved only for the top-six teams.

So, perhaps, there’s that to boast about.

Here’s what PFF had to say about San Francisco’s D-line entering 2022:

"The 49ers have one of the deeper edge rotations in the league with Samson Ebukam, Drake Jackson, Charles Omenihu, Kerry Hyder and Kemoko Turay all competing for snaps on the edge. Nick Bosa will not be in that competition coming off a 2021 season where he ranked seventh at the position in PFF grade, as he’s one of the best all-around edge defenders in the NFL.Arik Armstead is expected to move back to a primarily interior role, where he’s been better as a pass rusher than run defender over the last four seasons.With Javon Kinlaw yet to establish himself as an above-average starter on the interior, defensive tackle stands out as the one potential weak point of this unit."

Read More: Ranking 49ers’ 3 strongest positions after 2022 NFL Draft

Bosa is the centerpiece of this stacked unit, and PFF recognizes that. A year removed from a 15.5-sack, league-leading 21 tackle-for-a-loss campaign, the No. 2 overall pick from the 2019 draft will be looking to put together an even stronger year with the additions of players like Jackson and Turay to help him out.

Does it even matter if Pro Football Focus snubbed 49ers from the top 5?

PFF’s metrics and analysis are far from perfect. But it’s fair to question some of the concerns the Niners have with this still-elite unit.

Will Jackson turn into the quality No. 2 pass-rusher opposite Bosa, the role originally envisioned for the oft-injured and soon-to-be-released EDGE Dee Ford? And what about Kinlaw? His first two years in the league have been challenging, including missing all but four games in 2021 because of knee issues that have hopefully been surgically repaired since.

Rankings are fun and have merit as part of the offseason narrative. But as San Francisco fans can recall, particularly from 2020, a serious injury or two can completely derail any team’s plans.

Likewise, units underperform or excel beyond expectations.

At least in this case, the 49ers may have been snubbed from top-five placement, but their D-line is still among the league’s best.

That might be all that counts once the games start to matter.