All eyes are on 49ers quarterback Trey Lance. His success will be the largest determining factor in how competitive San Francisco is during the next several years. However, while the team searches for its franchise quarterback, the youth movement on the defensive line will also be key to the 49ers earning a sixth Lombardi Trophy.
Since 2019 the 49ers identity has started with its defense, and more specifically its defensive line. Additions on the defensive front in three of the last four drafts have the club in position to build a dominant pass rush that takes some of the onus off of Lance.
Their dominant pass rush started in 2019 with Nick Bosa, who was recently named the best player in the NFL under age 25 by Pro Football Focus. Bosa is a budding superstar who posted 15.5 sacks in his return from a torn ACL that limited him to two games in 2020. He’ll be a Defensive Player of the Year candidate more than once, and the club has come to rely on his dominance on the edge.
There are two other players under 25 on the 49ers roster though that will help determine just how effective Bosa and San Francisco’s defensive line can be.
The first is 2020 first-round pick Javon Kinlaw. He had reconstructive surgery on his ACL last season and played in just four games. That didn’t allow him to build on a strong rookie campaign. Kinlaw was supposed to be the replacement for DeForest Buckner, who was traded before the 2020 campaign. While it’s unlikely Kinlaw will be the same caliber of player as Buckner, if he can be 75 percent of that player while playing multiple spots on the interior, it would be an enormous addition for the 49ers’ pass rush and run defense.
If Kinlaw doesn’t reach that potential and he’s simply a rotational defensive tackle, it would dramatically lower the overall ceiling of the D-line that’s expected to spearhead a dominant defense.
The other player who’ll key that front is 2022 second-round pick Drake Jackson. Weight fluctuation and some issues with his role at USC caused him to fall to No. 63 in this year’s draft. Jackson, while not a first-round pick, has all the tools to be an excellent edge rusher to put across from Bosa.
He’s big, athletic and brings the speed the team has lacked since Dee Ford was limited with a back injury starting early in 2020. The 49ers defense was historically good when Ford was on the field in 2019, and Jackson gives them a chance to replicate that Ford-Bosa dynamic for the foreseeable future.
If Jackson can’t develop into a dominant edge rusher, there aren’t a ton of high-level options on the roster who can take on that consistent role. He’d simply be another rotational player alongside Samson Ebukam, Kerry Hyder and others.
There’s a real chance Kinlaw and Jackson both become very good players alongside Bosa though, and while Lance’s development will matter more than anything, a dominant defensive line akin to the one we saw in 2019 would certainly make life easier on the young signal caller.
