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The 49ers Sign DE Jonathan Garvin

The 49ers just added some much-needed depth at defensive end.

Grant Cohn

Green Bay Packers linebacker Jonathan Garvin (53) reacts after the Washington Football Team missed a field goal in the second quarter during their football game Sunday, October 24, 2021, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Apc Packvswash 1024211179djp
Green Bay Packers linebacker Jonathan Garvin (53) reacts after the Washington Football Team missed a field goal in the second quarter during their football game Sunday, October 24, 2021, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Apc Packvswash 1024211179djp / Dan Powers / USA TODAY NETWORK
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The 49ers just added some much-needed depth at defensive end.

They signed veteran edge rusher Jonathan Garvin. To make room for him on the roster, they placed defensive end Austin Bryant on the Injured Reserve List.

Garvin, 25, originally was a seventh-round pick of the Green Bay Packers in 2020. In three seasons with the team, he played 673 snaps and recorded just 1.5 sacks before he got released and missed the entire 2023 season. So the 49ers are giving his career a second life. For now.

I'm guessing the 49ers don't see a ton of potential in Garvin -- he was on the street as a free agent for a full year. The reason the 49ers signed Garvin is that they need another camp body at defensive end. Austin Bryant appears to be out for the year, as well as Drake Jackson whose season officially ended yesterday because he's still recovering from a torn patellar tendon.

Without Garvin on the roster, the 49ers would need Nick Bosa and Leonard Floyd to log lots of reps in training camp -- reps they ultimately don't need to take. They're veterans. They need to pace themselves for a long, grueling season. Give those reps to a young player who needs to prove himself. A young player such as Garvin.

It's unclear whether Garvin will play in the 49ers preseason opener this Saturday night against the Titans -- he might need a week to practice with the team and learn the playbook. But he'll have an opportunity to make the roster in the joint practices with the Saints and the final two preseason games.

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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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