There are no secrets about what the 49ers want to do defensively. They want to dominate on the defensive line to make life easier on players in the second level and in the secondary.
While there’s a ton of talent in the second and third levels of the 49ers defense (particularly at linebacker), the defensive line is the straw that stirs the drink for San Francisco. That truism of the 49ers’ defense is illustrated in a couple of rankings from Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar.
He ranked the NFL’s 11 best defensive ends, followed by the 11 best defensive tackles. Unsurprisingly, the 49ers showed up on both lists.
Nick Bosa was the No. 2-ranked DE behind Cleveland’s Myles Garrett. It’s nitpicking to try and put the two or three best DEs in the league in order. The bottom line is Bosa was flat out dominant last season en route to leading the NFL with 18.5 sacks and winning his first Defensive Player of the Year award. This bit from Farrar’s breakdown sticks out:
We’re mentioning this here because in the 2022 season, with three or four players on the line of scrimmage, Nick Bosa led the NFL with 13 of his 19 total sacks. A large percentage of his league-high 31 quarterback hits, and his 48 quarterback hurries, also came without any kind of schematic help. Basically, you can line Bosa up on the edge and expect him to dominate.
Bosa did this last season with a rotating cast of interior defensive linemen. This offseason the 49ers went for the jugular and added their first really dominant DT since they traded DeForest Buckner ahead of the 2020 season. Javon Hargrave, who signed a four-year deal worth up to $81 million with San Francisco this offseason, checked in at No. 8 on Farrar’s list of the top DTs in the NFL.
While run stopping will certainly matter, it’s Hargrave’s ability to get underneath offensive linemen to blow up the pocket from the interior that sticks out in Farrar’s breakdown.
Dealing with Bosa and Hargrave is going to be a tough ask for any offensive line. Add in Arik Armstead who had a career year in 2019 when he got to play alongside Buckner, and a rotating cast of DEs opposite Bosa and the 49ers could once again produce the most disruptive defensive front in the NFL.
