TRAGEDY: Buffalo Bills coach is very angry and he has taken immediate resignation……
The San Francisco 49ers can point to a number of reasons for February’s 25-22 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII.
But arguably the team’s biggest flaw in that game was its inability to stop Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
As evidenced by the moves San Francisco has made three days into the new league year, it’s clear by the premium the team has put on getting to the quarterback and being more stout at the line of scrimmage that the Mahomes effect is real
The 49ers lost quite a few key pieces of their front seven including edge-rushers Chase Young, Clelin Ferrell and Randy Gregory plus defensive tackles Arik Armstead and Javon Kinlaw. The quintet combined for 177 pressures, 125 hurries, 19 tackles for loss, 17 sacks and a pass-rush win rate of 11.5% in 2023.
While it’s not exactly an even swap in terms of production, SF replaced those players with edge-rushers Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos and defensive tackles Maliek Collins and Jordan Elliott, who combined for 125 pressures, 72 hurries, 26 tackles for loss, 22.5 sacks and a pass-rush win rate of 10.2% in 2023.
Floyd’s addition gives the 49ers a legitimate pass-rush threat opposite Nick Bosa. He’s totaled nine or more sacks, 45 or more pressures and 25 or more hurries in each of the last four seasons, including a career-high 10.5 sacks in 2023.
Collins’ 6-foot-2, 310-pound frame will pair nicely in the middle of the 49ers’ defensive line next to fellow defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, who accumulated 64 pressures, 48 hurries, seven sacks and eight tackles for loss in his first season in San Francisco.
Gross-Matos can fill the situational pass-rusher role that 49ers reserved for Ferrell, who did not play in the Super Bowl. A former second-round pick, Gross-Matos posted 19 pressures, nine hurries, six tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks in only 11 games this past season.
