Why the 49ers Brought in Ezekiel Ansah
Finally!
John Lynch and the San Francisco 49ers have now set their eyes on landing a rotational edge rusher behind Nick Bosa and Dee Ford.
Tuesday morning, Ian Rapoport broke the news first that Ziggy Ansah is going through a physical and COVID-19 testing with the 49ers. No deal has been reached upon yet per Rapoport. Although coming to the team's facility for a physical and testing, I would say it’s very likely a deal could be reached soon.
Why Ansah and not Jadeveon Clowney, Everson Griffin, or Clay Matthews?
Well, Clowney and Griffin will demand a salary that will require them to be more than a depth pass rusher. While Matthews is a great candidate, he also might want to wait for a bigger role or demand a higher salary than Ansah.
Here’s the kicker: 49ers defensive line coach Kris Kocurek was in Detroit and coached Ansah for the first five years of his career. In their time together Ansah achieved a 14.5 sack season to go along with a Pro Bowl in 2015 as well as a 12 sack season in 2017. If Kocurek could revive Ansah's production , this could be a low-risk move with a very high reward.
The two main edge rotational candidates consist of Ronald Blair and Kerry Hyder. Blair is a very nice young player but the reality is he is coming off a torn ACL and remains on the PUP list as of today. Ansah hasn’t had an attractive last two years collecting only 6.5 sacks, but that’s still 4.5 more than Hyder’s production and recently signed Alex Barrett hasn’t played an NFL snap since 2017 when he collected zero sacks on minimal playing time.
The one-year prove-it deal didn’t work out so much in Seattle for Ansah. It could work out for him in San Francisco as he’ll have the opportunity to rush the passer with a top-three defensive line with the coach that made him a household name.
If the league thought the 49ers pass rush was dominant last season, adding another former first-round pick like Ansah could make the defense to be even more vicious in 2020.
This defense shut out Russell Wilson for an entire half in Week 17 and surrendered 10 points in three quarters to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Keeping the pass rush fresh for all four quarters with high-ceiling rushers like Ansah is exactly what the 49ers need to finish the job this go around.
If the signing becomes official we’ll have it here.
Stay tuned.
