49ers felt confident in Nick Bosa despite social media activity

The San Francisco 49ers ended up grabbing Ohio State EDGE Nick Bosa with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft despite some concerns over his social media activity.

Arguably the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2019 NFL Draft, former Ohio State edge rusher Nick Bosa didn't enter the league's heftiest part of the offseason without some controversy.

Bosa, whose previous activity on social media has drawn plenty of scrutiny, vowed "to keep my opinions to myself from now on."

Regardless of the depth of those opinions and feelings, the San Francisco 49ers felt perfectly comfortable taking him with the second overall pick in the draft after the Arizona Cardinals selected Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray with the No. 1 pick.

Speaking with the media shortly after Bosa was announced as the Niners' selection, general manager John Lynch reiterated Bosa's relations with his teammates at Ohio State was more important than his social media activity.

"That's not something that we like," Lynch said of Bosa's questionable social media activity. "But [that] was a long time ago, and I think we choose to look more at what we hear from people as to who the person really is."


Lynch also admitted the Niners conduct background checks on players, including perusing social media accounts.

"It's not right, but it's also not the person we've been around," head coach Kyle Shanahan said. "It's not the person we believe he is, and it's not the person we've been told he is by a lot of people that we do trust."

Bosa previously deleted tweets supporting President Donald Trump, suggesting he "had to" in case he "might end up in San Francisco."

Whether or not politics should be a massive part of a pro athlete's personality or background is another argument for another time. Yet it seems as if both Lynch and Shanahan were far more impressed with how Bosa interacted with his teammates in college rather than his social media standing.

"I think the most indelible memory throughout this process with [Nick]...," Lynch added. "Myself and [Vice President of Player Personnel] Adam Peters went down on a day to watch Ohio State. They've got a ton of prospects. We were at Rose Bowl practice [when Bosa was injured] ... It was very fortuitous for us, because Nick Bosa decided to show up at practice.

"He was away from his team all year getting healthy, and this guy shows up in sunglasses and shorts. Organically, we watched this happen. The entire practice stopped and every player, every coach and every student manager on that team stopped and embraced Nick Bosa. That spoke to me, that here they are with [Ohio State head coach] Urban Meyer, who is a pretty intense head coach, and he just let it happen."

Regardless of Bosa's previous activities on social media, it appears as of Lynch, Shanahan and the 49ers front office are more positively convinced of the kind of relationship fostering the newest member of the Niners will generate on the field.

• Written by:
  Peter Panacy
  Peter Panacy has been writing about the 49ers since 2011 for outlets like Bleacher Report, Niner Noise, 49ers Webzone, and is occasionally heard as a guest on San Francisco's 95.7 FM The Game and the Niners' flagship station, KNBR 680. Feel free to follow him, or direct any inquiries to his Twitter account.
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