The San Francisco 49ers seem to be back to playing big-boy football in the trenches, on the defensive line at least.
To open Day 2, the Niners doubled down on Thursday night's selection of defensive lineman Mykel Williams by adding a gargantuan defensive tackle, Alfred Collins, to the mix.
The former Texas prospect is another giant structural beam of San Francisco's great D-line renovation, and given his large wingspan (measuring at 85 inches) and huge size (332 pounds, per his combine numbers), he should immediately fit right into the middle of the 49ers' defensive trench and begin eating space.
No one will be happier with this than defensive line coach Kris Kocurek.
We know this because he's tried to tell San Francisco this is the sort of player he wants, and on multiple occasions. That was most recently the case when he gave praise to undrafted rookie Evan Anderson, as he carved out a role on the 49ers roster.
The player he kept mentioning in those praise points, and seemingly the player he missed the most, was now-Denver Broncos defensive tackle DJ Jones.
That seems, to be fair, to be true of the organisation of a whole: rarely has an offseason or trade deadline passed without Jones being linked with a return to the Bay Area.
It's easy enough to understand why, as despite most 49ers fans lamenting the loss of players like defensive tackle DeForest Buckner or do-it-all defensive lineman Arik Armstead, the hammer blow to the Niners' run defense in particular was the loss of Jones in free agency in 2022.
The 49ers have tried multiple solutions to patch the wound, from highly touted draft picks (such as former first-rounder Javon Kinlaw) to coaching up less-heralded players (like erstwhile D-line rotation member Kevin Givens). But none have stuck with any sort of effectiveness.
That reached its nadir last season, as the patchwork D-line, led by several scattergun offseason acquisitions, fell apart multiple times, leading to great frustration and the loss of former defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen's job.
Now, with Robert Saleh back at the controls of the defense, the 49ers appear to have immediately patched the leak.
Both draft picks, Williams and Collins, appear to have a high floor as run defenders in the first instance, particularly as they are both likely to come straight into the starting lineup.
Their pass-rush techniques both need refining, especially Collins, but the two's sheer bulk should allow them to impact games from their first snaps. What most said with Williams last night is also true of Collins: If he can even provide average work and stoutness at the point of attack, it likely lifts San Francisco's overall defensive level significantly.
In some ways, this feels a throwback even as far as the 2010s and then-head coach Jim Harbaugh's run defenses, when the likes of former defensive linemen Justin Smith, Ray McDonald and Isaac Sopoaga combined to not allow either a 100-yard rusher or rushing touchdown through the first 14 weeks of the season.
That contributed massively to that season's success, and in truth, most of the time, good-to-great run defense, even under current head coach Kyle Shanahan, has been a portend of further success, particularly in the dual Super Bowl appearance seasons of 2019 and 2023.
Regardless, though, the drafting of Collins should finally put to bed the organisation's, and Kocurek's in particular, pining for a reunion with Jones. It's been a winding road to get here, but the 49ers seem to have finally found a plus-level run stuffer on the D-line.
It may not be the last one we see in the next few days, either.