How the 49ers Have Already Improved Their Run Defense

Despite losing and cutting a bunch of defensive players, the 49ers believe they have already improved their run defense.

Sep 29, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; New England Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson (38) is tackled by San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Sam Okuayinonu (91) during the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images | Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

Countless impactful players departed or were cut this offseason by the 49ers.

Most of those losses from the exodus stem from the defensive side of the ball. The 49ers already lacked talent on defense, and now it has gotten worse.

However, there is one aspect of the 49ers' defense that can be viewed as improved. Or at least, it is what the 49ers believe.

Despite losing a lot of talent, they have improved their run defense. It's because they reunited with Robert Saleh to be their defensive coordinator.

His scheme and experience is what will boost the run defense alone. It doesn't solve the issue by any means. The 49ers still need to support Saleh with talent, but it shouldn't be as poor as it was last year.

"If you have good players and a good scheme, you should be good against the run," said Kyle Shanahan at the NFL annual meetings. "When you lose players or someone's getting after your scheme, how do you adjust it? I think the experience that Robert's had, he's had to do that over the years. That's something we had to do last year, where we knew we were banged up and had to do some different things.

"When we did some different things, it was hit or miss... So that's stuff that Robert's gone through a bunch. He's done it in New York, he's done it here, and you always want to be able to add it and fix it with personnel, but when you can't fix it with personnel right away, you got to do it with scheme and Robert's been successful with doing that with both."

I think the 49ers do have an improved defense because of Saleh, so I resonate with what Shanahan said. The run defense will be better, but they still have a long way to go.

The scheme can only do so much if the 49ers don't have the players. Saleh will be limited in what he can do to mitigate and reduce the big gains.

The only problem is that Saleh will be working with a lot of rookies. The 49ers are looking at the upcoming draft as their main source to restock the defensive line.

While it is good to get younger and find new cornerstone players, it is also risky because the 49ers haven't been great at drafting defensive linemen in recent years.

Maybe this year will be different with input from Saleh. Either way, Saleh has a difficult task ahead of him and has the toughest challenge of any coach on the 49ers.