49ers need D-linemen who will complement Nick Bosa’s ACL recovery

SANTA CLARA – When Nick Bosa jogged to the 49ers’ sideline with another torn ACL, their pass rush was effectively done for the season.

“Anytime you have a former defensive player of the year and sack leader and perennial Pro Bowler and he’s not in your lineup, it’s not ideal,” defensive line coach Kris Kocurek said earlier this offseason.

Getting Bosa back to full health is the 49ers’ ideal scenario to revitalize their pass rush. The defense he comes back to will look different, with new players and new schemes, all under new defensive coordinator Raheem Morris.

Training camp won’t reveal if the 49ers fixed last season’s anemic pass-rush that tallied an NFL-low 20 sacks. Quarterbacks, after all, are off-limits in practice. But working on explosiveness, hand placements, and in-line communication are vital duties at camp these next several weeks.

Adding a veteran pass rusher would be helpful, of course. The 49ers have the NFL’s most salary cap space to do so if they swing a trade like the Rams already did for Myles Garrett. A more likely scenario is the 49ers add a lower-tier veteran who’s experienced in their system, then roll the dice on a youth-laden cast enveloping Bosa and defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa, March’s trade acquisition from Dallas.

HOW PATIENT IS BOSA?

Bosa rebounded so well from his 2020 tear of his left knee’s ACL that he won 2022 NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors and then the richest deal in 49ers history (five years, $170 million). A lot of that money is riding on this season’s comeback from right-knee reconstruction.

By converting $21.4 million of base salary into a signing bonus in March and thus generating $17 million in cap space this year, Bosa is poised for even more contractual talk next offseason. His salary cap figure balloons to $54.9 million in 2027, the penultimate season of his contract.

“Obviously I got injured pretty early last year so there’s plenty of time for me to really lay the groundwork for the long season,” Bosa said two months ago about this patient approach to ACL recovery.

He’ll obviously be on a pitch count with practice reps in camp. But he’s a technician who relishes time to work on details, and the 49ers will benefit from his presence and mentorship of younger pass rushers.

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

Romello Height, a third-round pick, is viewed as a polished 25-year-old pass rusher, as testified by Bosa and Kocurek.

“We’ll see once the pads truly come on and we get into real football,” Kocurek said in March. “Here in the spring, he’s been a little bit ahead of the learning curve compared to other rookies we’ve had in the past. Similar to Nick in 2019, he was advanced in some of the things he was taught at Ohio State. I see some of the same in Romello. He’s not making rookie mistakes from tech standpoint with footwork and hand placement.”

Height compiled 10 sacks last season at Texas Tech opposite David Bailey, the Jets’ No. 2 overall pick and a Stanford transfer. Before that, Height hopped from Auburn to USC to Georgia Tech. He’ll open camp wearing No. 94, which Pro Football Hall of Famer Charles Haley debuted in 40 years ago.

INJURY LISTS

Candidates to open camp on the Physically Unable to Perform list, simply based off last season’s injuries and not their rehab status, are Bosa, Mykel Williams (ACL), Keion White (ankle) and Alfred Collins (shoulder).

Williams, last year’s first-round pick, tore his ACL on Nov. 2 at the Giants’ MetLife Stadium, so his restart could come a month or so into the season and thus he figures to spend camp doing individual conditioning. White looks fully recovered after being shot in the ankle at a Super Bowl afterparty. Shoulder repairs can be tricky so Collins’ timeline is uncertain but the 49ers are high on him after a strong rookie year.

OTHERS IN THE ROTATION

Both starting defensive ends are coming off ACL repairs, so the 49ers need depth and support. Are Height, Sam Okuayinonu and ex-Bengals reserve Cam Sample the best options in the rotation, or could undrafted rookie Mikail Kamara surprise in that mix

Two other undrafted rookies, James Thompson Jr. and Bryson Eason, are increasing the competition on the interior with Odighizuwa, Collins, C.J. West, fourth-rounder Gracen Halton, Sebastian Valdez and Evan Anderson.

REFINING THE SCHEME

“We’ve always been a four-down front that aligns in a wide-9. I’d anticipate us still being a four-down team but also utilizing 5-down. It’s no secret. Raheem’s used it in his career going way back to L.A. and Atlanta. … Raheem has streamlined this thing where our techniques don’t change a whole lot. We’re still going to be an attack front. We’re just going to utilize multiple fronts, 5-down, 4-down, mix it up, keep people honest.” – Kocurek