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49ers DE Nick Bosa Falls in CBS Sports' Top 100 Players List

Just a couple years ago, Nick Bosa was considered the best non-quarterback in the NFL. Now, he isn't even considered the best edge-rusher anymore.
Grant Cohn|
Jun 10, 2025; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa (97) works out during an OTA at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images
Jun 10, 2025; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa (97) works out during an OTA at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images | D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

Just a couple years ago, Nick Bosa was considered the best non-quarterback in the NFL. Now, he isn't even considered the best edge-rusher anymore.

As recently as last year, Bosa was the 10th-best player in the NFL according to CBS Sports' Pete Prisco. Now, Prisco ranks Bosa 35th entering the 2025 season.

"Bosa had nine sacks in 14 games, but still showed off his ability to win off the edge by totaling a lot of pressures," writes Prisco. "He didn't get a lot of help from the rest of the line, which is why they had a major overhaul of that unit this offseason. He's still just 27 and in the prime of his career."

Bosa still is a good player, to be sure, but not dominant as he used to be. He still records lots of pressures, but he misses lots of point-blank sack opportunities because he slips and falls during the moment of truth. Of all the elite edge rushers in the NFL, Bosa probably spends the most time on the ground.

Which is why he tends to struggle against mobile quarterbacks. His pass-rush win rate is consistently high, but that just measures his ability to beat offensive tackles. Once it's time to finish the play, any quarterback with some quickness and mobility gives Bosa problems. Brock Purdy would give him problems if they played for different teams.

In addition, Bosa typically plays just three quarters of the 49ers' defensive snaps, and he was injured for a larger portion of last year. His durability could be a question going forward.

Which means 35 feels like a fair ranking for Bosa.

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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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