Javon Kinlaw needs to fill void on depleted 49ers defensive line
By Seth Steere
The 49ers will turn to rookie Javon Kinlaw up front.
The San Francisco 49ers have caught the injury bug; it’s something the 49ers have had to deal with in the past, but it has never been this bad. Heading into Sunday’s game against the New York Jets, San Francisco was already missing several key pieces on both offense and defense — Dee Ford, Deebo Samuel, Richard Sherman, and Ben Garland among others. At the game’s end, things were tremendously worse.
Accordingly, to head coach, Kyle Shanahan, former number two overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, Nick Bosa has likely torn his ACL. Not only that, but Solomon Thomas, Jimmy Garoppolo, Tevin Coleman, and Raheem Mostert did not finish the game for the 49ers either. It is unknown how severe Thomas’s injury is and he will be getting further testing on Monday to determine the severity. Garoppolo suffered a high ankle sprain and Mostert went out with an MCL sprain.
San Franciso’s starting line-up looks nothing like it did at the beginning of the year and what used to be their strength could now be their weakness — pass-rush. Without Bosa and Ford on the edge, the 49ers will lean heavily on Arik Armstead to bring the pressure off the edge. However, Armstead won’t be able to do it alone, San Francisco will need Javon Kinlaw to help bring the heat.
In his first game against the Cardinals, Kinlaw was quite good. He was able to win one-on-one pass-rush reps, but he wasn’t able to finish Kyler Murray to the ground, but not many players can. In his second game against the Jets, he didn’t appear to be as disruptive, but his motor was on display. On several plays you say him chasing the ball-carrier down 5-10 yards down the field to make a tackle.
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Kinlaw is still a raw player, but he has already shown a ton of promise in his first two appearances. Before Sunday, San Francisco was fine with letting Kinlaw grow into his role, but with the loss of three players along the defensive line, the 49ers will need Kinlaw to be even more disruptive and carry more of the load for the next several weeks.