The 49ers are getting healthier up front, and the timing could hardly be better.
Mykel Williams is set to return in Week 5 against the Seattle Seahawks after missing time with the torn ACL he suffered last November in a win over the New York Giants. That gives San Francisco a needed body on the defensive line, and a versatile one at that: a player who can line up as a base end and move inside on passing downs.
There’s more help trending the 49ers’ way, too. Nick Bosa was spotted practicing on a side field Thursday as he works toward a return in Week 6 against the Washington Commanders. With Bosa and Williams both on the way back, a unit that looked stretched thin not long ago suddenly has some room to breathe.
That wasn’t the case when Bosa joined Williams on the sideline with a calf injury and the 49ers were leaning on a D-line that had already lost C.J. West, Alfred Collins and Sam Okuayinonu to injured reserve. Alfred Collins is out for the season, and the injury pileup made it easy to assume San Francisco would have to hunt for outside help.
Instead, the group has held together better than expected. Several lesser-known players have stepped into bigger roles and made a real difference in both the pass rush and run defense.
Romello Height was one of the biggest surprises in the Week 4 win over the Denver Broncos. After missing the Week 3 victory over the Arizona Cardinals because of surgery on a broken hand, the rookie edge rusher came back with a club on that hand and played the best game of his young career.
Height posted the sixth-highest pressure rate among edge rushers with at least 20 pass-rush snaps last week, and defensive coordinator Raheem Morris made sure to point it out Thursday.
“He had a couple of really good rushes. Was able to get around there and do some really good things.
Obviously it’s hard to get on and off blocks sometimes. He got caught up with that [Denver Broncos OL Quinn Meinerz] 77 for that Denver team, that’s a pretty tough guy, a couple of times in there and got him in a vulnerable position.
But, Romello’s a dog and I love the way he competes, the way he plays. He’s going to go out there regardless.
He might have two clubs on and go out there. He’s that kind of guy.
So, I’m just fired up he was able to compete and go out there and help us get a win.”
The Broncos game also brought production from Ogbo Okoronkwo, who registered two pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. Okoronkwo was released this week to make room for Williams on the 53-man roster, then brought back to the practice squad.
Elsewhere on the line, Osa Odighizuwa added two pressures, while Keion White continued to give San Francisco valuable flexibility by working effectively both inside and outside, finishing with three pressures. White’s ability to move around has been a major plus early in the season.
Even without Bosa on the field for the past two weeks, the 49ers have gotten enough from that group to stay afloat. San Francisco finished Week 4 tied for fourth in the NFL with an ESPN pass rush win rate of 56 percent.
The main individual drivers of that number have been Height, who finished Week 4 tied for sixth among all edge defenders with a 29% win rate, and Odighizuwa, who ranked seventh among defensive tackles at 22%. Morris has also leaned heavily on his linebackers, sending Dre Grenenlaw as an extra rusher often enough that he led the 49ers with four pressures against Denver. Fred Warner, meanwhile, has rushed the passer at his highest rate since the 2020 campaign.
Run defense has not been as tidy. San Francisco sits 27th in run stop win rate, but Sebastian Valdez and Naquan Jones gave the unit a lift against Denver, helping hold the Broncos to 82 rushing yards.
Valdez, especially, looked like a player making a case for more work. He and Jones both showed the kind of ability to hold their ground and disengage from blocks that the 49ers have needed more consistently from that spot. James Thompson Jr. remains out with injury, which only adds to the importance of what those two provided.
Williams should help on that front once he returns, and Bosa is expected to give the pass rush a major jolt when he is back in the lineup. Even before that happens, though, the 49ers have already learned something useful: the middle of this defense does not need panic just yet.
There are no stars up front beyond Bosa, but over the last two games San Francisco has found a workable rotation. Odighizuwa, White and Height have been the standouts, and together they’ve been good enough to keep the defense moving in the right direction.
The play behind them has mattered, too. The back seven has been excellent through four weeks, and Morris deserves a lot of credit for that. But he and defensive line coach Kris Kocurek have also squeezed real production out of a group that wasn’t expected to carry much of the load.
That matters because it gives the 49ers something valuable: patience.
They do not have to rush into a trade just to patch the D-line immediately. John Lynch and the front office can wait, see how Williams and Bosa look when they return, and then decide what kind of help they truly need as the deadline approaches.
A deal for another defensive lineman still seems likely before the deadline if the 49ers want the kind of extra push that can matter in the postseason. But the recent work from this undermanned group has bought them time to make that call carefully.
The sack totals may not jump off the page, and the run defense still has room to grow. Even so, the 49ers have gotten enough from an unheralded line to avoid desperation, and that is a pretty useful place to be.
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