49ers Reportedly Plan to Re-Sign Ronald Blair III Pending Physical

The 49ers and defensive end Ronald Blair III reportedly met Thursday. The five-year veteran is “set to re-sign with the team pending physical” according to Jennifer Lee Chan of NBCS 49ers.

BREAKING: Sources told me Ronald Blair is meeting with #49ers medical staff today. He is set to re-sign with team pending physical: https://t.co/wMfuDBrM2x
— Jennifer Lee Chan - threads @jenniferleechan (@jenniferleechan) April 8, 2021

Blair missed all of the 2020 season recovering from the ACL injury he sustained Week 10 of 2019 vs. Seattle.

Prior to the injury, Blair was a valuable piece in the 49ers’ vaunted pass rush, recording three sacks and seven TFLs in nine games. In fact, San Francisco was 8-0 in games with Blair, only losing in overtime of the game he was injured.

Blair was originally a fifth-round pick out of Appalachian State by San Francisco in 2016, the last draft under former general manager Trent Baalke.

Despite being a later-round draft pick by the previous regime, Blair had carved out a nice role in defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and defensive line coach Kris Kocurek’s rotation.

His best season was 2018. Blair set career-highs in sacks (5.5), TFLs (10) and QB hits (14). Those numbers were all second-best on the team, trailing DeForest Buckner in all three categories.

Blair’s signing would provide a low-risk, high-reward depth option at edge-rusher behind Arik Armstead, Nick Bosa, Samson Ebukam and Dee Ford, similar to what last season’s sack leader Kerry Hyder Jr. provided (he signed with Seattle).

If the 28-year-old Blair can stay healthy, he should find plenty of pass-rushing opportunities given Bosa and Ford’s injury history, and the inexperienced bench of Alex Barrett, Daeshon Hall and Jordan Willis.

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