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Nick Bosa Evaluates 49ers DE Leonard Floyd

"He's more athletic than I even realized."
Grant Cohn|
Dec 25, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa (97) reacts after the 49ers recorded a safety against the Baltimore Ravens in the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 25, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa (97) reacts after the 49ers recorded a safety against the Baltimore Ravens in the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports | Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

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San Francisco 49ers

SANTA CLARA -- The 49ers have been searching for a defensive end to complement Nick Bosa since they drafted him in 2019.

They've tried Dee Ford, Samson Ebukam, Arden Key, Drake Jackson and Chase Young, and none of them have recorded more than 6.5 sacks in a season.

Enter Leonard Floyd. The 49ers signed him this offseason, and he has recorded at least 9 sacks four seasons in a row. Which means he has a chance to be the best edge rusher the 49ers ever have paired with Bosa.

"I think he's a super skilled rusher with good length," Bosa said of Leonard. "He's more athletic than I even realized. Guys like him, when they come to our scheme, the best is brought out of them. I'm excited to see what potential he has. He's in Year 9. I feel like as a defensive lineman you can keep improving all the way through 10 years in this league, so excited to see what he's got.

Leonard is built like an outside linebacker, which is the position he has played for most of his career. Last year, he played defensive end for the Buffalo Bills, and that's the position he'll play for the 49ers. The good news is that Floyd recorded 10.5 sacks while playing just 54 percent of the defensive snaps. The bad news is that the Bills defense ranked 28th out of 32 teams in yards per carry allowed.

As long as Leonard stays healthy, he seems like a lock to be the 49ers' best edge rusher opposite Bosa yet. The question will be his run defense because that was a major issue for the 49ers last season.

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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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