Kinlaw’s debut with 49ers better than stats indicate
Rookie defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw, the No. 14 pick in April’s draft, played 38 snaps in his NFL debut with the 49ers on Sunday and had an assisted tackle and two quarterback pressures. That’s all. For those who haven’t gone to freak out and are still reading, here’s the rest of the story: The 49ers’ first selection played better than his skimpy stat sheet suggests.
“I thought he had a hell of a game,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “He made a number of plays.”
A “hell of a game” might be a bit hyperbolic, but Kinlaw, 6foot5 and 319 pounds, had several moments that flashed his blend of strength and
athleticism while playing 46% of the snaps in the 2420 loss to the Cardinals.
In the second quarter, for example, Kinlaw shoved right guard J.R. Sweezy to the side and his inside pressure forced quarterback Kyler Murray to hurry a screen that onehopped wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins.
On the next possession, Kinlaw easily dismissed a reach block by center Mason Cole, darted into the backfield and grabbed Kenyan Drake behind the line of scrimmage as the running back fell forward for a 1yard gain.
In the fourth quarter, Kinlaw spun inside to disengage from Sweezy and dived for Murray’s legs, pressure that prompted him to flee the pocket for a 15yard scramble.
Kinlaw, who had 10 sacks in three seasons at South Carolina, is more advanced as a run clogger and the 49ers often removed him in clear passing situations. He was on the field on just one of 14 third downs and didn’t play in the first series when the 49ers opened in their nickel defense.
Kinlaw has acknowledged he needs to refine his passrush skills. This summer, he noted that his goto college move — a bullrush — was often neutralized by the likes of left guard Laken Tomlinson, a frequent trainingcamp foe.
In the second quarter, Kinlaw had poor leverage on a pass rush and Sweezy, after driving him to the ground, was lying on top of him as Murray completed a 13yard pass to tight end Dan Arnold. In the first quarter, Kinlaw finished on the ground on Murray’s 10yard touchdown pass to running back Chase Edmonds. Kinlaw fell after left tackle D.J. Humphries shoved him when he was engaged with left guard Justin Pugh.
“Just because I’m big, that doesn’t always mean (much) because everyone is strong.
Everybody is big,” Kinlaw said last month. “It’s all about technique.”
Still, Kinlaw shouldn’t throw out that bull rush: His nofrills, straightahead move pushed the pocket on several snaps.
On the second play of the third quarter, Kinlaw shoved Sweezy 4 yards backward. However, Kinlaw didn’t threaten Murray, who got rid of a screen pass less than 1.8 seconds after the snap.
Arizona’s quickpassing game, Murray’s scrambling and its outside runs weren’t conducive to an interior defensive lineman filling the stat sheet. Fiftythree of the Cardinals’ 82 plays were passes or runs by Murray. Arizona averaged 3.9 yards on 22 nonQB runs.
Kinlaw “made a number of plays,” Shanahan said. “It’s also a tough team to (make plays) against. Just the way their scheme is — how quickly they have the screens — and the way their quarterback plays. It was a real good first game for him.”
For those itching for Kinlaw to perform like DeForest Buckner, the AllPro he’s replacing, here’s some context: The Rams’ Aaron Donald, the NFL’s best interior defensive lineman who has 34 sacks in his past 30 games, didn’t immediately terrorize the league.
Donald, the No. 13 pick in 2014, had one sack, two QB hits and averaged 2.6 tackles in his first five career games.
Last month, after the fourth practice of training camp, Kinlaw was asked about his early performance and said, “I’d be lying if I thought it was good.”
He since has become better, evidenced by an NFL debut that qualified as a good start.