49ERS Linebacker’s return should be big help
By mid-April, some baseball teams have received their first dose of harsh reality, but those in the NFL remain blissfully optimistic.
Take, for example, the 49ers, a team coming off a 2-14 season marked by a historically inept run defense. No matter. On Monday, rookie defensive coordinator Robert Saleh indicated he’d be overseeing a unit that would morph from putrid to punishing.
“The way we align, our demeanor, the responsibility of the defensive players,” Saleh said, “we will stop the run on this defense.”
That sounds like a quote destined to inspire eye-rolling in October, but the return of one indispensable player could help make Saleh prophetic.
Shortly after Saleh left the podium, his spot was assumed by inside linebacker NaVorro Bowman, a run-stuffing savant who missed the final 12 games last season with a torn Achilles tendon.
On Monday, the first day of the 49ers’ offseason program, Bowman participated in a conditioning test and expressed confidence he’d be on the field for the first minicamp practice April 25.
Not surprisingly, it sounds as if Saleh plans to make Bowman the centerpiece of his we-will-stop-the-run plan.
“The coaches have done a great job of just expressing that I’ll have a lot of fun in this scheme,” Bowman said of the new 4-3 defense.
Last season, the 49ers set an NFL record by allowing a 100-yard rusher in seven straight games and established franchise records for the most rushing yards and touchdowns allowed in a season.
It could be argued that they made history largely because they were forced to make this swap to the starting lineup Oct. 2: Bowman for Nick Bellore, a special-teams player who had logged 40 defensive snaps in five-plus seasons before Bowman was injured.
In 2017, Bowman will be back, but it’s worth wondering if he’ll be the same player who was a first-team All-Pro in each of his four full seasons as a starter (while averaging 147.5 tackles).
Bowman, who will turn 29 on May 28, was sidelined in 2014 by a horrific injury to his left knee, and his torn Achilles was on the same leg. He said the skepticism after two severe injuries has him in the same frame of mind as in his rookie year. A 2010 third-round pick, Bowman initially backed up Takeo Spikes.
“I mentioned to the guys today — I’m hungry,” Bowman said. “I’ve been out of the game since Week 4. So any accomplishments that I’ve had before, none of that matters. I’m back to proving myself and getting back to that level. Guys were saying, ‘What are you on? How are you moving like this so early?’ I’ve put the work in and I think God will bless me with a great season.”
Saleh hopes divine intervention won’t be necessary to drastically improve the league’s 32nd-ranked run defense.
In free agency, the 49ers added nose tackle Earl Mitchell and inside linebacker Malcolm Smith. In addition, second-year defensive tackle DeForest Buckner figures to build on an impressive rookie season and tackle Arik Armstead, a 2015 first-round pick, will return after missing the final eight games with a shoulder injury he sustained in training camp. Finally, they could further reinforce the front seven in the draft.
It all sounds promising in mid-April, but the proof won’t arrive for five months.
In other words: Who knows if the 49ers will stop the run, but having Bowman is a good start.