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Will the 49ers Bring Back D.J. Jones this Offseason?

If the 49ers sign Jones, which they very well might, don't be surprised if they draft a defensive tackle, too. Their trenches are decimated and Maliek Collins will be a free agent next offseason.

Grant Cohn

Jan 12, 2025; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Denver Broncos defensive tackle D.J. Jones (93) warms up before a game against the Buffalo Bills in an AFC wild card game at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images
Jan 12, 2025; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Denver Broncos defensive tackle D.J. Jones (93) warms up before a game against the Buffalo Bills in an AFC wild card game at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images / Mark Konezny-Imagn Images
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The 49ers need to replace Javon Hargrave and improve their run defense this offseason, and free-agent defensive tackle D.J. Jones could be the perfect solution.

The 49ers plan to cut Javon Hargrave just two years after giving him a four-year, $84 million contract. Hargrave was a huge disappointment because he didn't fit the 49ers' Wide 9 defense. He was extremely effective for the Eagles who used a five-man front to create one-on-one matchups for the defensive linemen. On the 49ers, Hargrave couldn't withstand the constant barrage of double teams as a run defender, and he didn't produce much as a pass rusher, either.

Which brings us back to D.J. Jones. He spent the first five seasons of his career on the 49ers and was a key starter for them when their defensive coordinator was Robert Saleh. Now Saleh is back. Jones fits Saleh's Wide 9 defense and is one of the top run defenders in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus.

"Jones is still one of the more disruptive run defenders in the NFL when shooting gaps, with his 11.3% run-stop rate ranking third among interior defenders in 2024," writes PFF. "However, he has also missed more tackles over time. Nonetheless, there's a role for a 0/1-technique run stuffer with the occasional pass-rush juice."

PFF estimates that Jones will receive a two-year, $18 million deal in free agency, which seems like a bargain compared to what the 49ers paid Hargrave to make no impact.

If the 49ers sign Jones, which they very well might, don't be surprised if they draft a defensive tackle, too. Their trenches are decimated and Maliek Collins will be a free agent next offseason.

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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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