The San Francisco 49ers are losing pass rushers left and right during training camp. At least, that's how it feels. The team will be without rookie defensive end Nick Bosa for all of the preseason, with his availability for the season opener up in the air. Dee Ford, another offseason acquisition, will not return to practice until the week leading to the 49ers' third preseason game.
Other defensive linemen like Arik Armstead and Ronald Blair are day-to-day with their respective injuries.
Defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, who led the team in sacks last year with 12, is eager to receive some help after mostly carrying the defensive front last season. Buckner joined KNBR on Thursday morning and discussed what having support on the edges, once healthy, means for the followup to his Pro Bowl campaign.
"Having that pressure off the edge on both sides, and causing the quarterback to step up into me would definitely make my job a little easier," Buckner said on the "Murph and Mac" show.
The defensive star knows that there will be no pass-rush preview during Saturday's game against the Dallas Cowboys.
Bosa suffered an ankle sprain during Wednesday's practice. It was initially reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network not to be too serious. General manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan later stated that the severity of the injury was more significant than reported. In fact, Shanahan initially thought Bosa might have been lost for the season. Luckily, that isn't the case.
"It's a serious ankle injury," Shanahan said. "It could have been a lot worse. The way we saw it on tape, we had a big pile up. We had a very big man fall on his leg. I think we were very fortunate that he's a good enough athlete that he got his leg out of there. I think a lot of other people, it would have been his knee. But he got it caught up, and there's nothing he could have done about it."
The 49ers sound less concerned about Ford. He's routinely battled knee tendinitis over his career, and the team feels better about taking care of it now, with platelet-rich plasma injections and rest, rather than later.
"We've seen him enough at practice," Shanahan said. "He knows what he's doing. He knows how to prepare for the season. We want him to be the [healthiest] possible Week 1. We don't need him out there just killing himself and grinding through that, and waiting to [heal up] on a bye week. We'd rather he do it now, and he'll be good to go Week 1."
Buckner and his injured defensive line teammates are using this time to work on other aspects necessary to create a cohesive unit.
"We've been in the meeting room every day working on the communication, getting those calls together, and all that stuff," Buckner said. "It's going to be exciting when the time finally happens."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Buckner below.