Nick Bosa Wins the 49ers' Garry Niver Award

Every year, the Bay Area chapter of the Pro Football Writers of America votes to determine which player on the 49ers was the most professional and cooperative with the media that season. The winner gets the Garry Niver good-guy award.

I'm in the Bay Area chapter of the PFWA, and I voted for Nick Bosa, who won the award this season for the first time in his career.

Bosa became the voice of the team this season. He always has been candid and forthright with the media, but he was a bit shy when he was younger. You could tell he would prefer not to talk to the media if he had a choice, which is understandable. We ask some terrible questions.

But this season, he became the highest-paid defensive player of all time and the second-highest-paid member of the 49ers after owner Jed York. And suddenly, Bosa has begun to act like a CEO.

Every week, the first player to talk to the media is Bosa. The 49ers open the doors to the locker room, and he often is standing at his locker ready to talk. Which means he doesn't waste people's time, and he sets the team's narrative every week.

And his answers are incredibly honest. If you ask him how the defense expects to defend a certain quarterback that week, he'll share the game plan with you. And if the 49ers lose, he'll explain exactly why and won't sugarcoat things.

Fred Warner and George Kittle are extremely professional and cooperative with the media, but they sugarcoat the truth like they're junior coaches. Bosa gives the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and that's why he's this year's winner of the Garry Niver Award.

Congratulations, Nick.