49ers Reportedly Plan to Re-Sign Ronald Blair III Pending Physical
The 49ers and defensive end Ronald Blair III reportedly met Thursday. The five-year veteran is “set to re-sign with the team pending physical” according to Jennifer Lee Chan of NBCS 49ers.
Blair missed all of the 2020 season recovering from the ACL injury he sustained Week 10 of 2019 vs. Seattle.
Prior to the injury, Blair was a valuable piece in the 49ers’ vaunted pass rush, recording three sacks and seven TFLs in nine games. In fact, San Francisco was 8-0 in games with Blair, only losing in overtime of the game he was injured.
Blair was originally a fifth-round pick out of Appalachian State by San Francisco in 2016, the last draft under former general manager Trent Baalke.
Despite being a later-round draft pick by the previous regime, Blair had carved out a nice role in defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and defensive line coach Kris Kocurek’s rotation.
His best season was 2018. Blair set career-highs in sacks (5.5), TFLs (10) and QB hits (14). Those numbers were all second-best on the team, trailing DeForest Buckner in all three categories.
Blair’s signing would provide a low-risk, high-reward depth option at edge-rusher behind Arik Armstead, Nick Bosa, Samson Ebukam and Dee Ford, similar to what last season’s sack leader Kerry Hyder Jr. provided (he signed with Seattle).
If the 28-year-old Blair can stay healthy, he should find plenty of pass-rushing opportunities given Bosa and Ford’s injury history, and the inexperienced bench of Alex Barrett, Daeshon Hall and Jordan Willis.
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