The San Francisco 49ers made a lot of cost-cutting measures in the offseason. As part of that effort, they cut several players on their defensive line who were solid last year.
It seems like this could be catching up to them soon.
The team moved on from edge rusher Leonard Floyd and cut defensive tackle Maliek Collins in the offseason. The strategy was to get younger and cheaper up front with their front four, but that move has backfired due to injuries.
Injuries are forcing 49ers to regret their offseason roster moves
San Francisco's first-round draft pick Mykel Williams suffered a knee injury in practice last week. Thankfully, the injury is not supposed to be super serious, so he should be back in action soon, but the scare laid bare the lack of depth the Niners have on their line.
If Williams did have to miss an extended period of time, they have Bryce Huff behind him on the depth chart. But the other depth option, Yetur Gross-Matos, has already dealt with some injuries thus far. Their ranks are thin at edge rusher.
Turning to defensive tackle, the team got some bad news with veteran Kevin Givens going down with a pectoral issue that may keep him out for a good portion of the season.
San Francisco drafted two defensive tackles in the 2025 NFL Draft: Alfred Collins and C.J. Jones. Both definitely have potential, but they are rookies so there is going to be a learning curve. Early reports on Alfred Collins suggest he is taking a little longer getting up to speed.
Thankfully, Kalia Davis has looked good thus far. He had a sack in San Francisco's preseason game against the Denver Broncos, and one beat reporter believes he will be a starter in Week 1.
Still, the Niners would probably feel a little better if they had Maliek Collins at least as an option to rotate with the younger guys they have out there. He could have been a valuable veteran resource for the rookies and could have played more if they were not up to speed.
Alas, the Niners decided they wanted to have a fresh D-line with young players for 2025, and that is what they have.
We will see if their offseason purge ends up coming back to bite them, but if the injuries start to pile up the Niners may be kicking themselves.