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Will the 49ers Bring Back Javon Kinlaw this Offseason?

Robert Saleh could bring a familiar face back with him to the 49ers.

Grant Cohn

Oct 31, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Jets defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw (54) reacts during the first half of their game against the Houston Texans at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images
Oct 31, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Jets defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw (54) reacts during the first half of their game against the Houston Texans at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images / Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images
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Robert Saleh could bring a familiar face back with him to the 49ers.

Javon Kinlaw will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason and the 49ers need a defensive tackle to replace Javon Hargrave, who will get released. Kinlaw spent this past season on the New York Jets whose head coach was Saleh for the first few games. It's safe to presume that Saleh was instrumental in bringing Kinlaw to the Jets.

And Kinlaw was solid. He played in all 17 games for the second season in a row and even managed to record a career-high 4.5 sacks. He seems to be improving, particularly as a pass rusher. Keep in mind, he's 27 years old, which isn't exactly young for a football player, but it isn't old, either. He's entering his prime.

If Saleh liked Kinlaw enough to sign him last year, it's possible Saleh likes him even more now. And if the 49ers were to sign him, he most likely would start next to Maliek Collins, and the two of them would form a solid tandem that's better against the pass than the run.

But it's possible that the 49ers plan to draft a defensive tackle with their first-round pick this year. In that case, Kinlaw might prefer to sign somewhere else where he would have an opportunity to compete for a starting job. Still, it's quite possible that he would beat out Maliek Collins if the two had to battle for one spot on the defensive line.

It will be extremely interesting to see which players Saleh brings with him to Santa Clara.

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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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