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The 49ers are a Likely Landing Spot for Joey Bosa if he Gets Released

What could go wrong?

Grant Cohn

Jan 30, 2025; Orlando, FL, USA; AFC linebacker Joey Bosa during the Pro Bowl Skills Challenge at Nicholson Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Jan 30, 2025; Orlando, FL, USA; AFC linebacker Joey Bosa during the Pro Bowl Skills Challenge at Nicholson Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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The Chargers most likely will release Joey Bosa this offseason to create cap space. Will the 49ers sign him?

We know the 49ers want to overhaul their defensive line this offseason, and it's probably safe to assume that Bosa would love an opportunity to play with his little brother, Nick Bosa.

That's why The 33rd Team's Tyler Brooke thinks the 49ers are such an intriguing landing spot for Joey Bosa.

"The opportunity to play with his brother could be an awfully tempting proposition for Bosa," writes Brooke.

"Nick Bosa has continued to be a star for the San Francisco 49ers defense, but the team has had to rely on journeyman veterans to play alongside him. The result is Bosa leading the team with 69 pressures in 2024, but only two other players having 25 or more pressures in Maliek Collins (45) and Leonard Floyd (44).

"While Floyd looks like a solid running mate with the younger Bosa, the team severely lacks pass-rushing depth for a defense that's been so intimidating for so many years. Adding Joey Bosa to the pass-rushing rotation could easily change that, and the 49ers have enough cap flexibility in 2025 to look into a short-term deal for their franchise pass rusher's older brother.

"The asking price may be a bit higher than other options, and Joey may want to play a more focal point on a contender, but the chance to get after the quarterback with his brother could make San Francisco an appealing landing spot."

If Nick Bosa puts pressure on the 49ers to sign Joey, they just might. Remember, Bosa essentially blamed Steve Wilks for the Super Bowl collapse last year, and a few days later the 49ers fired him. Then last month, Bosa said he was embarrassed by the defense, and the next week they fired Nick Sorensen.

The 49ers clearly want to keep Bosa happy, which means they absolutely could sign his older brother even though he'll be 30 in July and hasn't recorded a double-digit-sack season since 2021.

What could go wrong?

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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