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Rookie Alfred Collins Must Adjust to the 49ers' Defensive Scheme

Collins needs all the training he can get.
Grant Cohn|
May 9, 2025; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers second-round draft pick Alfred Collins (99) watches his teammates work out during the teamís rookie minicamp. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images
May 9, 2025; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers second-round draft pick Alfred Collins (99) watches his teammates work out during the teamís rookie minicamp. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images | D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers made a drastic decision this offseason.

They cut not just one but both of their starting defensive tackles -- Javon Hargrave and Maliek Collins -- and replaced them with a couple rookies.

One of the rookies was second-round pick Alfred Collins. He's supposed to start right away at 3-technique defensive tackle. But he didn't play in an attacking-style defense in college -- he played in a read-and-react defense. So he'll need to adjust to the 49ers' style of play according to defensive line coach Kris Kocurek.

"You look for the skill set on tape that he has the ability to play within our scheme," Kocurek said. "We don't want to ever just draft a big guy just to draft a big guy. He still has to have the skill set that we call for within the scheme. You see enough of it on tape. He did play more of a frog stance read, but there are times in passing situations where they kind of turned him loose and you saw the explosiveness in his body, you saw his ability to change direction, the speed to pursue the ball, the change of speed to go fetch plays downfield and use his length. So yeah, it's going to be a little bit of a learning curve -- 17 years in the NFL, I've dealt with that a lot. He'll be alright. We have time through camp to adjust to it. He'll be fine."

Unfortunately for the 49ers, Collins reaggravated a calf injury before the draft and hasn't been able to practice yet. Which means he hasn't been able to adjust to the 49ers' scheme or learn their techniques yet.

To be fair, it's only June, and he'll have plenty of time to learn when he needs to know in training camp. But he can't afford to miss any more time. He's a rookie who needs all the training he can get.

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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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