49ers defensive end Ronald Blair tore his ACL during Monday night’s loss to the Seahawks, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Blair is done for the season and the Niners will make it official soon by placing him on injured reserve.
Blair, 26, was in the midst of another productive year for the 49ers. As a reserve, he had three sacks across nine games, putting him on pace to match or top his career-high 5.5 sacks last season. Instead, he’ll have to try and build off of that in 2020 and the Niners will have to find edge support elsewhere.
Blair was a 2016 fifth-round pick, meaning that he’ll be out of contract after the season. Clearly, the injury comes at a very inopportune time, but he should still find a decent market in March, plus some reunion interest from the 49ers.
The 49ers, without Blair, will look to rebound from the loss on Sunday against the Cardinals.