All 49ers

The 49ers Have Their Best Pass Rush since 2019

Finally, the 49ers have four pass rushers the opponent must fear and respect.

Grant Cohn

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The numbers don't reflect it yet, but the 49ers finally have put together their best four-man pass rush since they went to the Super Bowl in 2019.

That season, the 49ers had Nick Bosa, Arik Armstead, DeForest Buckner and Dee Ford, who never was fully healthy. This season, the 49ers have Bosa, Armstead, Javon Hargrave and Randy Gregory, who made his 49ers debut against the Browns and recorded one sack and three quarterback hits in just 26 snaps.

Finally, the 49ers have four pass rushers the opponent must fear and respect. And yet, the 49ers have just 15 sacks this season, which places them in the middle of the pack. Part of the reason for their modest sack production is that Gregory has played only one game with the 49ers. Expect the sack totals to increase now he's here and playing more snaps.

In addition, there are things defensive coordinator Steve Wilks can do to supercharge the pass rush. So far this season, he has been calling lots of soft zone coverages with two deep safeties and only seven defenders in the box to defend the run. This has led to outcomes: The 49ers have given up lots of quick passes, and their run defense has taken a hit. Which means the pass rush hasn't had many opportunities to sack the quarterback. Either the ball comes out too quickly, or the offense hands off.

Wilks can help. He can put an eighth defender in the box to stop the run, and he can call tight man-to-man coverages which force the quarterback to hold the ball a beat longer while his receivers work to get open.

Once Wilks makes these adjustments, the pass rush will take over.

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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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