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Kris Kocurek Explains Why the 49ers Like Maliek Collins

"The explosion that he can generate through his lower body jumps off the tape."

Grant Cohn

Jul 28, 2023; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans defensive tackle Maliek Collins (96) between drills during training camp at the Houston Methodist Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 28, 2023; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans defensive tackle Maliek Collins (96) between drills during training camp at the Houston Methodist Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports / Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports
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SANTA CLARA -- One of the most important players on the 49ers this season is Maliek Collins.

The 49ers traded a seventh-round pick to the Texans in exchange for Collins this offseason so he can replace Arik Armstead, whom the 49ers released. Armstead is one of the top defensive tackles in the NFL when healthy, and Collins isn't. But Collins has been relatively durable the past couple seasons, and Armstead hasn't. So Collins is in and Armstead is out.

This week, defensive line coach Kris Kocurek was asked what he likes about Collins. Here's what Kocurek said:

KOCUREK: "It goes way back with Maliek. I really liked him coming out of Nebraska. The explosion that he can generate through his lower body jumps off the tape. He can play in the backfield. He can recreate the line of scrimmage. He can knock guards back. He is really athletic on the back side to make plays. He has the ability to manipulate things in the pass rush, get a guard to lean one way and beat him another, work edges, and then when guards sit back and try to take those things away from him, with the strength he has in his lower body, he has a really thick, strong lower body, he can convert stuff into power when needed. He has been a good player in the NFL for a long time. I've always liked his skill set. I think his skill set is tailor made to play the attack style that we play. He has played in some attack-style schemes throughout his career. Last year he was down with Houston, so there will be a lot of familiarity going from working with DeMeco Ryans to coming here and doing very similar type things."

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Grant Cohn

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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