Elvis Dumervil:
Will S.F. bring back outside linebacker next season?
The 49ers signed outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil to a two-year contract in June, but the deal was basically this: Prove you can still play this year and we’ll keep you for a second season.
That’s because the second year of Dumervil’s contract is an option year, meaning the 49ers can choose to not exercise the option and part ways with him after the season without financial penalty.
On Wednesday, Dumervil, 33, was asked about the option: Did he expect the 49ers to keep him in 2018?
“That’s beyond my pay grade,” Dumervil said. “I just try to come out and do what I can do. You don’t need to talk when you just go out and perform. The best way to show how you’re going to be here is just to go out and perform. Everything else will take care of itself.”
After 12 games, Dumervil’s 2018 return may not be guaranteed, but he’s performed well enough to answer ageand injury-related questions that surrounded him when he signed.
Despite averaging just 19 snaps a game, Dumervil, who ranks fourth among active players in sacks (104.5), has a team-high 5.5 sacks this season and ranks second on the 49ers in quarterback pressures (31), according to Pro Football Focus. Defensive tackle DeForest Buckner has 39 pressures.
In his previous two seasons with Baltimore, Dumervil had nine sacks despite missing eight games while dealing with an Achilles injury that hampered him in 2015 before he underwent surgery. Given his age and recent medical file, general manager John Lynch acknowledged in August the 49ers had rolled the dice.
“I think there was some risk in it, and there still is,” Lynch said, “but we felt like it was a risk worth taking.”
Dumervil may not be the same force who had 17 sacks in 2014, but he could finish statistically as the most effective pass-rusher the 49ers have employed in recent years: With 1.5 sacks in the final four games, he’ll have the most sacks since Ahmad Brooks and Aldon Smith each had 8.5 in 2013.
“He definitely still has it,” said left tackle Joe Staley.
Offered defensive coordinator Robert Saleh: “He still has enough in the tank.”
Dumervil’s limited playing time is tied to the 49ers’ 2-10 record. He mostly enters in obvious passing situations, but the 49ers have rarely forced teams into pass-first mode. As a result, Dumervil has spent more time watching than rushing.
“Obviously, in a situation as a pass-rusher, you want to play with a lead,” Dumervil said. “That hasn’t been the case, but you understand to start something special, you have to build it. It’s not going to happen overnight. You can’t worry about yourself too much.
“The only thing you can do is when you’re out there is just be as productive as you can possibly be. When the time is right, when I get enough snaps in games where we get the lead early, then I’ll be able to show what I’m really about.”
Dumervil, who will turn 34 in January, isn’t the most logical fit on a young rebuilding team. But he’s also affordable ($2.75 million base salary in 2018) and is the 49ers’ only proven edge rusher. The 49ers rank 25th in the NFL in sacks (22) and Dumervil is their only player with more than two this season.
The 49ers will likely address the need in free agency and the draft, and they must decide whether to pick up Dumervil’s option before the start of the new league year March 14.
Dumervil could have a few productive seasons left. Each of the three active players who have more sacks — Carolina’s Julius Peppers, Detroit’s Dwight Freeney and Baltimore’s Terrell Suggs — have had eight-sack seasons after turning 35.
The decision on his option may be beyond Dumervil’s pay grade, but he sounds as if he expects the 49ers to be paying him in 2018.
“From the top down, I think we all understand I have a lot in my tank,” Dumervil said. “That’s not a question. I said this from the beginning: I didn’t come to San Francisco to just sail off into the sunset.”