Which edge rushers will emerge?
The Niners appear to be banking, for now, on the majority of their pass rush coming from DeForest Buckner and Solomon Thomas on the interior. Buckner’s quickness, power and hand usage enabled him to rack up 52 pressures in 2017 per Pro Football Focus, but the fact that the 49ers had only 30 sacks — with Buckner recording just three — is a damning indictment of their inability to capatalise on his disruptive abilities.
Part of the reason for their failings in that area was a lack of talent at edge rusher, and the Niners did little to address the issue in the offseason. They cut Elvis Dumervil, who led the team with 6.5 sacks, and added Jeremiah Attaochu in free agency.
Attaochu had 6 sacks with the Chargers in 2015, but injuries and the emergence of Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram restricted his ability to build on that promising campaign. He and Cassius Marsh, whose six-game stint after being cut by the Patriots was enough to earn him a two-year extension, will likely see the field a lot as defensive ends on passing downs.
Competition comes in the form of the 49ers’ SAM linebackers, who defensive coordinator Robert Saleh would like to play a more hybrid role in which they serve as the LEO defensive end on passing downs.
At that spot Eli Harold is in the final year of his contract after struggling to make an impact as a pass rusher, while Dekoda Watson flashed some promise pressuring the quarterback in 2017 and Pita Taumoepenu, a sixth-round pick last year, fits the athletic profile of a successful edge rusher and has reportedly bulked up to the 255-pound weight target he was set.
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San Francisco’s defense developed well last season and finished strongly, yet there is a threat of it being held back if the Niners cannot get the quarterback on the ground more often. For that to happen, at least one of this unheralded group of edge rushers needs to emerge. Marsh, Attaochu and Taumoepenu may not be household names but, at 49ers camp, they are some of the most important.