The 49ers have started the season 3-0 but yesterday brought about a massive blow to their defense. Testing on Nick Bosa‘s knee revealed he suffered an ACL tear. 
As a result, San Francisco’s top pass rusher will be sidelined for the remainder of the season. Replacing Bosa’s production will be a challenge if in-house options are relied upon as replacements. An outside move could be made as well, as head coach Kyle Shanahan noted.
“There’s got to be trade options that make sense for you and another team, but you can’t just do that stuff just to do it,” Shanahan said when speaking about the possibility of acquiring a pass rusher via trade (h/t Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio).
For the most part, a by-committee approach will of course be needed to compensate for losing Bosa. First-round rookie Mykel Williams has already established himself as a key figure along the defensive front, and that will need to continue moving forward. Veterans Yetur Gross-Matos (who is in his second campaign with the 49ers) and Bryce Huff (who was acquired via trade this offseason) are in the fold, and they could see an uptick in usage now that Bosa is sidelined. Gross-Matos is a pending free agent, while Huff is on the books through 2026 (although his base salary for next season is not guaranteed).
In both cases, then, a strong showing to close out the current campaign would be key ensuring an extended stay in the Bay Area. At least one of Gross-Matos or Huff could land a full-time starting gig moving forward; the latter has recorded one sack in each of the past two games while handling a 48% snap share. Huff is not known as a strong run defender, on the other hand, something which could lend itself to an outside addition as a depth option.
The likes of Za’Darius Smith (Eagles), Jadeveon Clowney (Cowboys) and Preston Smith (Commanders) have signed with their new teams early in the season, taking them off the market. The trade route will be explored to no surprise, but the 49ers may need to wait several weeks before the list of sellers becomes more clearly defined. In any case, it will be interesting to see if a deal is pursued with Bosa out of the picture.
For the hundredth time, fire the training and med staff. Our body count every year is ridiculous
Okay because the training staff tore his ACL. Injuries are freak injuries. They aren’t soft tissue injuries.
For the hundredth time. They have changed their training staff several times. Injuries just happen. Every team around the league is dealing with a bunch of injuries. Plus no amount of training and stretching is going to help 2 grown men pushing into you while your legs are fully stretched out sideways.
Is Aldon Smith available? 🙂