5 players 49ers can’t afford to lose to serious injury in 2022
By Peter Panacy
49ers fans can easily recollect how injuries completely derailed the 2020 season, and these five players missing time because of injuries would be disastrous.
Let’s rewind to Week 2 of the 2020 season.
The San Francisco 49ers were on their way to a victory over the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium to improve to 1-1 amid what was being phrased as a post-Super Bowl “vengeance tour.”
Except the Niners just lost defensive linemen Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas to season-ending ACL tears.
In Bosa’s case, the loss felt like a playoff-ending gut punch, and in a sense, it was. San Francisco would finish 6-10 that year amid a campaign that would result in a frustrating and forgettable lost season with far too many injuries to overcome.
Two seasons later, head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. look to avoid the pitfalls that derailed the 2020 season and nearly replicated themselves in 2021.
Not all injuries are created equal, but it’s safe to say the 49ers’ upcoming 2022 campaign will be derailed if they lose any one of these five players to elongated injuries this season.
No. 5: 49ers EDGE Nick Bosa
It’s not hard to suggest Bosa is the Niners’ No. 1 top-performing defensive player heading into 2022.
Bosa’s resurgent 2021 campaign after tearing his ACL was All-Pro-worthy, despite him receiving a snub in that category, as he recorded 15.5 sacks and a league-leading 21 tackles for a loss. Yet while there were plenty of other reasons why San Francisco’s defense was so potent a year ago, Bosa’s prowess was surely up there.
The 49ers restocked the pass rush by adding former USC EDGE Drake Jackson in Round 2 of this year’s NFL Draft, but Bosa remains a premier pass-rusher whose presence on the field alone makes the defense that much more potent.
That proverbial “gut punch” that was experienced when Bosa suffered his ACL tear early in 2020 helped derail that year’s Niners’ campaign, and one can know for certain another injury setback at any point this season would result in yet another disaster for coordinator DeMeco Ryans’ defense.