A good portion of the credit for the 49ers’ success this season goes to the defensive line, which features five former first-round picks. Nick Bosa might wind up as the best of the bunch, showing that he should not only be in contention for Defensive Rookie of the Year, but Defensive Player of the Year.
He didn’t look the least bit like a first-year player in 2019, cruising to nine sacks, 25 QB hits, 16 TFL and 47 total tackles. None of his sacks or tackles for loss came against the Rams, though, who he faced twice.
Andrew Whitworth was one of the tackles tasked with blocking Bosa, getting the better of the rookie in each matchup. Whitworth has a good grasp of Bosa’s game already, saying he’s mostly a power rusher and not one who uses many different moves.
“I think obviously you’ve got to play him with some power,” Whitworth told Colin Cowherd this week. “He’s a power player, he doesn’t use a lot of pass-rush moves. You’re not going to see many moves out of him, like a spin or really arm-over moves or anything. You’re going to see more power rushes. He’s going to get off the football and try to knock you back into the quarterback or kind of beat you late with something where he pulls himself underneath you or around you. But he’s a tremendous young player and one of the best put-together athletes I’ve ever seen in the NFL, that’s for sure.”
Edge rushers don’t typically go from college to the pros and have the immediate success that Bosa had. Usually, it takes them a year or two to get acclimated to the speed of the NFL, the talent of offensive tackles and to develop their pass-rushing repertoire.
That transition period gets Whitworth excited to face rookies, but that wasn’t the case with Bosa.
“Usually as a tackle, I look around at what teams just drafted a rookie player and I go, ‘Oh good, that’s a game that’s going to be kind of easy’ because most rookie rushers just don’t quite understand the NFL game and how to get to the quarterback,” Whitworth said. “He has the intangibles and the work ethic and power and speed that is rare. And he’s able to make it happen at a young age. He’s going to be a special one.”
Whitworth is nearing the end of his career, so he won’t have to battle Bosa much longer – if ever again. But the Rams have to get used to No. 97 lining up on the edge against them twice a year for the foreseeable future. He’s going to be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.