The 49ers and defensive end Nick Bosa are in a strange spot in their negotiations for a long-term contract that will keep the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in Santa Clara.
Typically a player going into the final year of their contract doesn’t have a ton of leverage since sitting out the whole year is not beneficial to them in the short or long term. Teams can usually lean on that in contract talks and know that the leverage is ultimately on their side.
Buy 49ers TicketsBosa’s case with the 49ers is different though. He is an essential cog in a machine that doesn’t have much room for error. San Francisco has survived its quarterback tumult over the last few seasons in large part because of their stifling defense. They built that defense around a strong pass rush, of which Bosa is the tip of the spear.
The addition of defensive tackle Javon Hargrave should help the team’s pass rush, but without Bosa in the mix it’s hard to see where they’ll be able to rely on pressure off the edge.
In the last two regular seasons Bosa has racked up 165 pressures and 35 sacks per Pro Football Focus.
The rest of San Francisco’s entire DE group (Clelin Ferrell, Austin Bryant, Drake Jackson and Kerry Hyder) since 2021 has a combined 117 pressures and 18 sacks.
Given the resources the team put into Hargrave this offseason there was always going to be a need for one of their unproven DEs to make a leap on the opposite side of Bosa. Defensive line coach Kris Kocurek has had enough success with reclamation projects on the edge that it’s a fair bet and a defensible team-building strategy.
However, removing Bosa from the picture changes the complexion of the defensive line completely. Now they don’t just need one of those players to be consistently productive, but they need three or four of them to make substantial strides right out of the gate and maintain a high level of play until Bosa returns. That’s much harder to bet on.
The 49ers cannot win the Super Bowl without Bosa. They put together a decent defensive effort in 2020 when he was sidelined, but that was thanks in large part to a career year from Hyder who hasn’t come close to matching that level of play in the two seasons since then. This year is much different given the stakes coming off two NFC championship game losses and the window for this core group of players rapidly closing.
San Francisco has operated all offseason like it has to win a championship this year. The next step in doing that is ensuring Nick Bosa is on the field for the start of the regular season. If they don’t, they may quickly find out they don’t have the horses to keep up in the NFC without him.
