2. DE Ronald Blair
The news wasn’t good this week for a team looking to be more consistent when it came to chasing down opposing quarterbacks.
One of the franchise’s key offseason additions in 2021 was defensive end Carl Lawson, who spent the first four years of his career with the Cincinnati Bengals. The former fourth-round pick from Auburn University played all 16 games as a rookie and finished with 8.5 sacks. He was coming off a year in which he started a career-best 11 contests. He finished 2020 with 36 tackles, 5.5 quarterback traps and a pair of forced fumbles.
Lawson had spent the summer opening eyes and training camp. But he will miss 2021 as he suffered an Achilles injury in training camp on Thursday. It’s a big blow for a club that finished with just 31 sacks this past season and a defense that allowed the fifth-most passing yards in the league.
Veteran Vinny Curry was also added this offseason but he’s currently sidelined as well for now. So perhaps Ronald Blair, a player Saleh is very familiar with, bears watching this weekend and perhaps longer. In four seasons with San Francisco, he managed a combined 13.5 sacks in 47 regular-season outings with the Niners.