If you’re betting on 49ers pass-rusher Nick Bosa having a great season in 2022, you might want to take the over. And here’s why.
With the 2022 regular season just around the corner, we all should probably be over the fact San Francisco 49ers EDGE Nick Bosa was a massive snub from last year’s All-Pro voting that not only kept him from receiving the first-team nod but also failed to include him with the second-team group.
Yes, we should be over that snub (OK, we’re not at all). But perhaps the 2019 No. 2 overall NFL Draft pick uses that snub as motivation to put forth his best campaign yet at the pro level.
One that might actually eclipse his exceptional 15.5-sack campaign from a year ago in which he also had a league-high 21 tackles for a loss.
Pretty exceptional when one considers Bosa was coming back from a torn ACL suffered the previous season.
It’s also even more remarkable Bosa put up those numbers while not getting a ton of statistical help from his fellow Niners defensive linemen, and the fact that now-Jacksonville Jaguars EDGE Arden Key’s 6.5 sacks in 2021 ranked second on the team behind Bosa speaks to just how much was asked of the latter.
However, San Francisco spent another offseason reinforcing its defensive line, adding rookie pass-rusher Drake Jackson while looking to get a Key-like year from a free-agent pickup, Kemoko Turay.
Combined with a resurgent defensive tackle in Javon Kinlaw, perhaps Bosa’s prowess and potency reach entirely new levels in 2022.
If so, he’s worthy of some awfully bod predictions, and we list out three right here.
Nick Bosa prediction No. 3: NFL leader in sacks
Earlier this offseason, we argued if Nick Bosa might threaten the NFL’s single-season sack record, still technically held by Hall of Famer Michael Strahan at 22.5 back with the New York Giants in 2001.
That might be a little too lofty of a prediction, but Bosa would certainly be part of the circle of top pass-rushers who could reach that point.
Another one who’d be in the running, of course, is Pittsburgh Steelers EDGE T.J. Watt, who received those first-team All-Pro votes a year ago after tying Strahan’s record.
Bosa, Watt, the Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett, the Dallas Cowboys Micah Parsons, the Green Bay Packers’ Rashan Gary and the Chicago Bears’ Robert Quinn are just a few of the pass-rushers who could contend for the 2022 leader in the sack department.
And while Pro Football Focus actually ranked the 49ers’ defensive line sixth overall entering 2022, our own personal analysis states this unit deserves to be ranked much higher.
With the additions the Niners made during the offseason, double-teaming Bosa won’t be as effective as it was in 2021, meaning there should be more opportunities for him to win those fortunate one-on-one matchups.
As such, let’s go ahead and predict Bosa winds up netting 4.5 more sacks this season, leading the league with 20 during the regular season.
Nick Bosa prediction No. 2: Finally a first-team All-Pro selection
One might think that if our first prediction for Nick Bosa comes true, the second one is all but guaranteed.
In this case, it would be.
Getting two Pro Bowl awards in three seasons is nothing to scoff at, quite the honor for Bosa who was likely on the trajectory for a third had it not been for that torn ACL suffered in 2020.
Fully recovered and arguably better than ever heading into the new season, Bosa could easily threaten for the league lead in sacks, and one shouldn’t expect him to fall off in the tackles-for-a-loss department either.
T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett, both of whom earned first-team All-Pro honors in 2021, are still going to be in the running for the same award this season. And both are coming off back-to-back campaigns in which they’ve received the award, too.
For Bosa to crack that pairing, he’ll likely have to set the league lead in sacks, which won’t be easy but is certainly possible.
If he does, someone like Watt or Garrett would likely have to move aside and be named to the second-team All-Pro group instead.
Nick Bosa prediction No. 1: Toss in a Defensive Player of the Year award
Immediately after Nick Bosa’s standout rookie season, there was no shortage of thoughts he could soon wind up becoming the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year.
That award should probably be renamed the “Aaron Donald Defensive Player of the Year” award instead, given the Los Angeles Rams perennial All-Pro is regularly in the running for it on a yearly basis.
And players like T.J. Watt, Myles Garrett, Micah Parsons and Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward should be in the mix, too.
However, if we take into account what the best offensive tackle in football, San Francisco’s own Trent Williams, said about Bosa late last year, it shouldn’t even be a conversation about who’s the best:
"When you look at the NFL right now, who would you take over Nick Bosa? To me, I feel like he’s probably playing some of the best football in the NFL right now from the edge position. I feel sorry for the offensive tackles, I really do, because I’ve had full-speed reps against him. We go one-on-ones and that’s full speed, we’re not taking it easy on each other. He has the full array of everything you need. If you were to go into a lab and create a pass rusher, Nick Bosa would walk out."
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Pass-rushers are the most important defensive positional players in the league today, and Bosa will soon capitalize on a hefty contract extension in a year’s time.
And if Bosa winds up being at the top of the outside pass-rusher crop when 2022 is in the books, he should probably take home Defensive Player of the Year honors, too.