Defensive Line Thread

Originally posted by Heroism:
Losing Sam O f**king blows. The 49ers have absolutely no edge depth. I don't even know who plays base if Nick can't go--Keion White and Khalid Kareem? God help us if a hobbled Romello height or Ogbo Okoronkwo has to play base.

What an abysmal situation. I feel awful about this pass rush right now. Unless the rookies have a big year--and they could--this pass rush is shaping up to be almost as pathetic as last year's.

The 49ers won 12 games last season despite recording an NFL-low 20 sacks, the second-fewest in franchise history.

Can San Francisco turn around a pass rush that also ranked last in the NFL in pressure rate? 👀 pic.twitter.com/2fjfDtjP8z

— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) September 4, 2026

Osa wasn't enough. They needed more and easily could've added it through the draft: Jaishawn Barham was sitting there when they took Kaelon Black...I'm just saying.

Raheem is probably going to have to manufacture pressure. What worries me most is they've put themselves in a position where they have no choice but to lean on Nick Bosa despite his health issues, putting him at even greater risk of worsening his knee situation. What a f**king mess.

This is one reason that it's so hard to find and draft guys to fill needs. Edge will always take precedence over and interior O lineman. If Bosa gets hurt again guess what position the Niners will be looking at in the first round next year. Every year it seems like some position suffers major injuries and needs to be addressed in the off season.

Last year the 49ers had a 33.6% quarterback pressure rate in the games Bosa played, that would've ranked 4th overall in the NFL for a full season. That was also without an Interior pass rush during those games. With Osa I expect it to be better, I really think hes going to have a Justin Smith like resurgence to his career. Smith was never a Pro Bowler on the Bengals and once he got to the Niners his game took off to another level. I really like the two rookies (Height, Halton) and i really just hope West & Collins were just rusty in the preseason with their injuries. Right now the Pass Rush lies on the health of Bosa, he supposedly was saying he feels much better now than he has in prior years because he had a procedure to clear up some debris in his knee. If he can stay relatively healthy then i really love this D-Line. I still believe we 100% make a trade during the season for an Edge rusher from a team that is out of contention.

Originally posted by 707Niners:
Last year the 49ers had a 33.6% quarterback pressure rate in the games Bosa played, that would've ranked 4th overall in the NFL for a full season. That was also without an Interior pass rush during those games. With Osa I expect it to be better, I really think hes going to have a Justin Smith like resurgence to his career. Smith was never a Pro Bowler on the Bengals and once he got to the Niners his game took off to another level. I really like the two rookies (Height, Halton) and i really just hope West & Collins were just rusty in the preseason with their injuries. Right now the Pass Rush lies on the health of Bosa, he supposedly was saying he feels much better now than he has in prior years because he had a procedure to clear up some debris in his knee. If he can stay relatively healthy then i really love this D-Line. I still believe we 100% make a trade during the season for an Edge rusher from a team that is out of contention.

It is funny some of our own fans seem to forget how good bosa is and the attention he demands. He's an animal

Originally posted by frenchmov:
It is funny some of our own fans seem to forget how good bosa is and the attention he demands. He's an animal

That's because so many fans don't understand the game of Football. Bosa demands a Chip block or a double team every Pass Snap. The only time he's not getting a double team is if he's up against an elite Tackle and even then he's still receiving a Chip block. With guys like Osa, Halton, White who can get interior Pass Rush that'll only help Bosa & Height even more comin off the edge.

Originally posted by 707Niners:

Originally posted by frenchmov:
It is funny some of our own fans seem to forget how good bosa is and the attention he demands. He's an animal

That's because so many fans don't understand the game of Football. Bosa demands a Chip block or a double team every Pass Snap. The only time he's not getting a double team is if he's up against an elite Tackle and even then he's still receiving a Chip block. With guys like Osa, Halton, White who can get interior Pass Rush that'll only help Bosa & Height even more comin off the edge.

He's one of the best. When he's on the field.

That's the whole issue. Only adding and undersized edge in Height as a 3rd round pick is criminal. Relying on Bosa to stay healthy and Mykel (whenever he comes back) is absurd.

Osa will help generate pressure from the interior no doubt but not spending on a quality edge in free agency after we came off a 20 sack year absolutely blows my mind.

We didn't have to spend 30 mil on an edge but there were tonnes of mid range guys that would have really helped us.

Bradley Chubb
Dre'mont Jones
K'lavonn Chiasson
Joseph Ossai
Arden Key
Jadaveon Clowney
Al-Qudin Muhammed
Charles Omenihu
Samson Ebukam
Dante Fowler
AJ Epensa
Josh Uche

But instead after the Okuayinonu which will probably keep him out for most of the year we are left with:

Nick Bosa
Keion White
Romello Height
Khalid Kareem
Ogbo Okoronkwo

Even when Mykel Williams comes back that is not a championship group of edges. We need to get serious and add an edge and call the Raiders and offer them two firsts for Maxx Crosby. There's no-one else out there that will help.

Originally posted by Sask49erFan:

Originally posted by 707Niners:

Originally posted by frenchmov:
It is funny some of our own fans seem to forget how good bosa is and the attention he demands. He's an animal

That's because so many fans don't understand the game of Football. Bosa demands a Chip block or a double team every Pass Snap. The only time he's not getting a double team is if he's up against an elite Tackle and even then he's still receiving a Chip block. With guys like Osa, Halton, White who can get interior Pass Rush that'll only help Bosa & Height even more comin off the edge.

He's one of the best. When he's on the field.

That's the whole issue. Only adding and undersized edge in Height as a 3rd round pick is criminal. Relying on Bosa to stay healthy and Mykel (whenever he comes back) is absurd.

Osa will help generate pressure from the interior no doubt but not spending on a quality edge in free agency after we came off a 20 sack year absolutely blows my mind.

We didn't have to spend 30 mil on an edge but there were tonnes of mid range guys that would have really helped us.

Bradley Chubb
Dre'mont Jones
K'lavonn Chiasson
Joseph Ossai
Arden Key
Jadaveon Clowney
Al-Qudin Muhammed
Charles Omenihu
Samson Ebukam
Dante Fowler
AJ Epensa
Josh Uche

But instead after the Okuayinonu which will probably keep him out for most of the year we are left with:

Nick Bosa
Keion White
Romello Height
Khalid Kareem
Ogbo Okoronkwo

Even when Mykel Williams comes back that is not a championship group of edges. We need to get serious and add an edge and call the Raiders and offer them two firsts for Maxx Crosby. There's no-one else out there that will help.

Don't sleep on Keion White. I think he will be impressive this season. I expect 8-10 sacks, health withstanding.

I don't want to see Kevin Givens. Give Sebastian Valdez a shot.

Anyboy got a clue who tf is starting come Thursday?

Originally posted by Heroism:
I don't want to see Kevin Givens. Give Sebastian Valdez a shot.

Amen. I've seen enough of Givens

Originally posted by lamontb:
Anyboy got a clue who tf is starting come Thursday?

Probably Bosa, Osa, West and Keion White.

Originally posted by Heroism:
I don't want to see Kevin Givens. Give Sebastian Valdez a shot.

Yah I'm over Kevin Givens too. Would like to see Valdez in rotation for this game. Let's see what happens!!!!

Originally posted by Kolohe:

Originally posted by Heroism:
I don't want to see Kevin Givens. Give Sebastian Valdez a shot.

Yah I'm over Kevin Givens too. Would like to see Valdez in rotation for this game. Let's see what happens!!!!

Find the biggest fastest guy from the All Blacks rugby team.. just tell him to hit stafford every time

Wish we would have kept Eason and let Luke Gifford kick rocks. For f**k's sake.

Originally posted by Second2Nunley:
Don't sleep on Keion White. I think he will be impressive this season. I expect 8-10 sacks, health withstanding.

LOL!! Not a chance man

Originally posted by Chance:
Wish we would have kept Eason and let Luke Gifford kick rocks. For f**k's sake.

It's going to be a DJ Reed all over again. We should have never let Eason go.

I was going to say Thompson could have a big role but he is hurt too.

This team is a mess. An utter disaster. Does this have the look of a championship DLine?

DE- Nick Bosa / Khalid Kareem
DT- Osa Odiahizuwa / Gracen Halton
DT- CJ West / James Thompson?
DE- Keion White / Romello Height