Niners Nation
Whichever way you slice it, it has been a rough year for the San Francisco 49ers from a pass rushing perspective.
Shorn of the services of Nick Bosa due to his torn ACL and, having dealt with injuries up front throughout the season, the 49ers rank at the bottom of the league in several measures pertaining to rushing the quarterback.
They are tied for the fewest amount of sacks (12) and lowest number of pressures (51), per Pro Football Reference. In addition, their pressure rate of 13.7% is dead last in the NFL.
San Francisco’s inability to disrupt the quarterback was a key reason why the 49ers gave up 42 points last week against the Los Angeles Rams.
Yet with Bryce Huff, who has four sacks this season, back in the mix following a hamstring injury and Keion White still acclimating to the team following his trade from the New England Patriots, defensive coordinator sees reason for optimism the defensive line can be in a much better place as a pass-rushing group by the time the regular season reaches its conclusion in January.
The 49ers are still in a strong position to make the playoffs at 6-4 and, even with Bosa and Mykel Williams out for the season and Yetur Gross-Matos on injured reserve, Saleh retains confidence his defense has the weapons to gradually improve over the final weeks of the season.
Asked if he would have to “scheme up” the pass rush the rest of the way, Saleh told his Thursday press conference:
“Yeah, I think Kocurek does a really nice job working from a schematic standpoint. We always have our pressure system and trying to find a way to create free runners and all that and trying to create edges where we’re leveraged the proper way. But. at the end of the day, you gotta win your one on one. And I do think we have guys who are capable. I think Huff is still one of the better ones in football. I think Sam [Okuayinonu] has proven to be pretty damn good. I think Alfred [Collins] getting back in there is gonna help. Kalia’s [Davis] finally got that cast off him so he can be more effective. So it’s a work in progress because there’s been a lot of moving parts and there is continuity that comes into play with that group. But I’m not too worried. The main focus is for us to get better and better and better so we’re peaking when we hit January. Especially with this young group, like I’ve told you guys, there’s gonna be ups, there’s gonna be downs. Last week was down obviously, but hopefully we can get back on the horse.”
Huff is tied for 10th among all edge rushers in pass rush win rate (18.3%), per Pro Football Focus, vindicating Saleh’s assessment, while Okuayinonu (12%) has continued to prove himself a valuable member of the rotation off the edge.
Nobody can atone for the loss of Bosa...
