The San Francisco 49ers injury woes continued on Sunday as star pass rusher Nick Bosa suffered a torn ACL in his team’s 16-15 win over the Cardinals.
The injury marks the second time that Bosa’s season has been cut short due to a torn ACL, as he missed all but 2 games in 2020 when he injured his left knee vs. the Jets. The Niners and the defensive end alike were hopeful that a major injury was avoided, however additional scans revealed that his ligament was indeed torn and would require surgery.
“Anytime you lose a guy like Nick and his status is unknown, it’s a real buzzkill,” LT Trent Williams said Sunday. “It is cliché to say the next man up, but when you lose a guy like that, you need three or four guys to come to fill those shoes. I think we’ve got the depth and we got the youth, so hopefully they can continue to improve.”
The 27 year old was off to a fast start in 2025 recording 2 sacks, 8 pressures, 15 tackles and a 21.9% pass rush win rate through two weeks. With Bosa out of the picture, San Francisco will turn to Mykel Williams, Bryce Huff, Yetur Gross-Matos, and Sam Okuayinonu to pick up the slack. The team also has defensive ends Robert Beal Jr. and Trevis Gipson on the practice roster to choose from as well.
That being said, given how prominent a role the former Ohio State standout played on the team’s defence, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the front office look to bring in some veteran help.
32 year old Shaquil Barrett, and 30 year old DeMarcus Walker are two notable free agents who could help with the pass rush, and there’s also the possibility of 49ers GM John Lynch exploring the trade market as well.
Per Spotrac, the team currently features roughly $27.7M in cap space for the 2025 NFL season, good for 5th most in the league behind only New England, Dallas, Detroit and Washington.
The 49ers currently sit atop the NFC West at 3-0 on the season, and will prepare to host the Jacksonville Jaguars in a 4:05pm ET game this coming Sunday.
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