49ers Interior Defensive Line Depth Chart

Intro [Music] from the allees at K to the Glory Days at the stick from who's got it better than us to Brick by Brick it's always the 49ers way from off seon to game day yeah we talk back it's the 49ers cut back [Music] Eric Armstead it's 49ers cutback podcast time welcome to the show everyone I'm to talk about that defensive line an interior defensive line is the conversation for this episode and the depth chart because the 49ers have undergone some real changes at the position anytime that you lose a player called the blueprint you're going to have question marks and of course I'm talking about Eric Armstead the 49ers went to Armstead and they tried to get him to take a significant pay cut and of course depending on what side you're on player side or on the team side you might think it was warranted because he's been injured a lot or you might think hey Armstead has earned his money in the past and I think both things are true in this circumstance it's unfortunate that the team and the player couldn't come to a conclusion that worked for for both but often times when money's involved and this is a business when it comes to the NFL sometimes decisions have to be made the 49ers and John Lynch came to an agreement with Eric arm said about allowing him to move on and go seek other opportunities around the league and it didn't take him long once he was released to go find a landing spot with his former general manager Trent bulky in Jacksonville but what was behind it and what was left was some holes that needed to be filled by the San Francisco 49ers we know the 49ers spent money when it came to the edge Rush uh they spent money on Leonard Floyd they spent money on Yer gr Matos uh so they're spending money on guys that are going to help this team when it comes to the edge Defender role but what about interior defensive line I don't think interior defensive line is often discussed but has been a prominent issue for the 49ers over the last couple Seasons the 49ers definitely made a decision at 2019 to go and get defensive tackles that could stop the run that was why they intended on drafting Javon kinlaw bringing someone who was bigger more physical to stop the run in place of Buckner now of course financials played into that decision as well but you can definitely see it signings like cassan Ridgeway through time also displayed their willingness to want to stop the run so 49ers all of a sudden go Javon hardgrave last year Armstead was always your run stopper and hardgrave is not known for being a good run stopper but he is known for getting after the quarterback Allah the same way that Buckner was California's kind of returned to the mold that they thought they were getting with a 2019 team in 2023 so the San Francisco 49ers defensive line is under went a little bit of a shift over the last few weeks or months actually uh there's definitely been a shift in what's going to happen with this defensive line and I want to talk all about it in this episode I want to talk about how the San Isco 49ers are going to play this season with this defensive line and start putting them in depth and let me know along the way what you feel about this 49ers defensive line depth uh do you feel that you know I have it right when we go through these or is there something wrong I'm always interested to see your perspective on the whole scenario like And subscribe to the channel if you haven't already really appreciate it you're listening audio platform 4 yards cutback on believe please give it a five star rating and if you're going to bet bet with bet online bet online is your number one source for all your summer Sports this season from MLB golf NBA and NHL Playoff stats all the latest stats news and scores available to follow your favorite teams give the latest odds and lines including the latest team matchups player props and odds on just about every sport out there head to the website today or use your mobile device to get in on the action bet online where the game starts and we're going to start with Jayvon Hardgrave these guys on the interior the big guys there's not going to be very many roster spots available I mean how many guys are going to actually make this team for the interior defensive line the 49ers have kept four they have kept five so some guys are going to be on notice about what happens but I think the number one guy now is Jayvon hardgrave the 49ers have their big defensive tackle they signed him last year in free agency and he did add production to the inside of the 4 defensive line to pass rush I think a lot of people argue they didn't feel like they got enough for the amount of money that the 49ers spent but I think when you look at what happened the year before 49ers got no production no interior pass rush from their defensive line now once Armstead was healthy in the playoffs he did big things back in 2022 but the 49ers weren't getting production from anyone else they had less than three sacks coming from everyone else you had to get production in the interior defensive line to help take pressure off of guys like Nick BOS and some of the other outside edge rushers so the 4 yards went and spit money on harra he walked away with seven and a half sacks uh I'm sure a lot of people would love double digits but seven and a half was a lot more than you were getting from the interior pass rush beforehand but where hard grave struggled was against the Run game and as he got nicked up through the season and played more snaps it was very apparent that he wasn't going to hold up as consistently against the run as people were hoping so hardgrave is going to have another season another opportunity but now he's the centerpiece of this interior defensive line Malik Collins armstead's gone Javon kinlaw's gone so hardgrave now leads a group of some newcomers to the 49ers there are of course some holdovers uh some guys the 4ers have had on this roster that they've continued to develop or have been working with for a little while but hardgrave is going to have to carry the weight on the inside he's going to have to put pressure on the quarterback from the defensive tackle spot and he's going to have to play better against the run in 2024 than he did in 2023 but the 49ers had to go out and they had to help him so what do they do they go out and they trade for Malik Collins Malik Collins comes over from the Houston Texans a system very familiar to what the 49ers Runo Ryan doesn't run the exact system when it comes to defensive line but a similar one and with Collins you're getting an explosive First Step you're getting a guy that creates penetration gets in the backfield is able to run down the line of scrimmage in the zone game he's a very technical defensive lineman but you lost Armstead so you have to replace him with a variety of players Le Collins is going to be the first step in helping that Direction with hardgrave and Malle Collins they're going to be able to generate pass rush they're going to be able to push that interior uh pocket of the offensive line potentially into the quarterback you need to affect quarterback play if you're going to be able to affect the team and we talked about this in the edge Rush video Leonard Floyd on the outside at BOS on the other now you have two legit pass rushers on the inside as well with Malle Collins and then also with Javon hardgrave now we know cros Matos will sometimes be in there on the interior defensive line and that's okay you need to have a a rotation and a few players that can step in and make plays now when you have this particular unit in when you have hard grave and you have Collins you're going to have to worry about getting pushed back when it comes to the Run game they're going to work on low pad level they're going to work on penetration they're going to work on getting skinny and breaking double teams but they've got to keep defensive uh the defensive line intact so that way they keep offensive players off their linebackers that's a huge goal for the 49ers and it hasn't always been the case I think last year was the year where really felt like this run game a run defense got pushed around before the forers made enough plays even in 2019 where the run defense wasn't the best where they give up 112 yards per game you still felt like they were going to get key stops and they were going to make plays when they had to get off the field and then if you got to Third and medium third and long they were going to absolutely get home with that Gold Rush well I think last year was the first time it felt like we just can't stop the run and so the 49ers losing Armstead means you're losing a key cog in stopping that run game so Collins is going to have to really step up his game now he showed the potential to be able to split double teams and make plays he's going to have to make sure that when he's not able to split double teams that he's holding up and not giving up ground you cannot afford to get pushed back and allow offensive lines to reset the line of scrimmage if they reset the line of scrimmage number one that means they're automatically going to get yards in the running game number two that means they're going to get pushed into your linebackers when less space for linebackers means they can't avoid blocks and they get caught up in traffic you up in traffic you can't get there to make the tackle so it's a key ingredient to successful defensive play is to not just get into the back field and create Havoc but also be able to hold up against double teams and not allow them to get a push so that way your linebackers can run free you want to occupy blockers to keep your linebackers free so that way guys aren't free to go get to the second level and you want to be able to not get pushed back into their way so they have free Lanes to run find their Windows get downhill and make tackles so Malle Collins comes in he's going to be next to hardgrave and they're going to have a key role right now I would have Collins and hardgrave as the one two defensive tackles on the inside it could change we're going to talk about some of the other guys as well coming up right now because fors also brought in Jordan Elliott and if you're into for's content no not that Jordan Elliott not Splash cousin uh one of my favorites but Jordan Elliott from the Cleveland Browns and Jordan Elliott brings the aspect that you definitely want in a defensive tackle as he can stop the run the guy can blow up double teams and he is very Stout and he hasn't anchor to not get pushed back and that was very important one of the things the forers have missed since they haven't had players like Assan Ridgeway was the guy that can stop the run when Ridgeway was with the 49ers and kinlaw was healthy the 49 run defense was very effective what you lost though was the ability to get after the quarterback at a high rate so the forers are trying to Jordan Elliott find a way that they can have the best of both worlds Jordan ellot can stop the run Malik Collins can rush the passer dvon hardgrave you know perceivably can do both and you're looking for a steady rotation that's going to be able to hold up so adding a player like Jordan Elliott was very important to this 49ers defense Jordan Elliott is very talented the the thought process and it was asked you know on the red and bull show me and Mark talking and someone I think uh they said that Larry Krueger said Jordan Elliott potentially could start and I would never count that out for the mere fact that these two guys haven't been on the 49ers we don't know exactly who they are or how they're valued so I think those guys are going to be in direct competition and I'm looking forward to it two distinct methods of getting it done at the defensive line position one Malle Collins built aggressively on speed athleticism and putting together good moves and penetration and Jordan Elliott who has a a good first step not as much explosiveness as Collins but is able to generate pass rush and is very Stout against the run so I'm liking this tandem I'm liking this group as part of a rotation a three-headed rotation right now of course you always need four 49ers Chris ceric like to rotate their defensive line pretty consistently with waves of guys and try to keep these guys fresh when you get in the later parts of the game they're still playing at the highest of levels and offensive Line's been out there the entire game now a defensive line that's been rotating going to be a lot healthier when you get to the end of the game and hopefully you can shut down the run and you can close games out by getting after the quarterback so Jordan Elliott was a great signing so for yards hit it Malik Collins is going to be a solid player for them as far as pass rush they got him for a cheap price and coming in and generating pressure and then Jordan Elliot against the Run should be very Stout and also has the upside to be able to rush the passer as well I think that was two really good signings for the 49ers same way they went out Edge Rush attacked it gr Matos Floyd two Edge rushers who do it a little bit different but are also going to be able to make plays same thing with the defensive tackles I think that's a good way to go about it get guys who are proficient in both areas you know pass rush and Run game I like the way they did it they were able to bring back Kevin given so given has been a solid rotational piece for the San frco 49ers for a few years and of course he was undrafted and then developed and he's got a wicked first step and he can get off the ball quick and then he uses his speed and penetration to be able to create havoc in the back field where he struggles is a lot like we talked about with hardgrave this is a 49ers makeup of their defensive line problem is he can't anchor he gets pushed back he gets drove back a lot of times three four yards and that generates problems for Fred wardner Tre Greenlaw and others to be able to get up there get to the ball carrier and make a play cuz a lot of times he's getting pushed up he's giving up ground and you just can't have that so there are some strengths in given's game that I think fit what Chris cacer really loves the penetration the speed athleticism to run sideline to sideline and help this uh defense be able to run guys down when they try to spread you horizontal or get those outside zone or toss plays to the outside he can create and get after and help you out in that department so I think Kevin given is still a good player I think the 49ers are ultimately hoping that the some of the guys I'm talking about after can step up uh but G given they feel comfortable with they know what kind of player he is he's obviously very cheap uh and he's been in this position this has been his exact role the fourth defensive tackle part of that second wave rotation so uh Kevin given right now likely is on the inside of this roster but 49ers have a pretty pry good Kalia Davis defensive line even though they lost Eric Armstead it's still uh pretty good next up Kalia Davis Kia Davis has drafted in the sixth round uh two years ago and he was injured he he was on the pup list they drafted him late they knew he had injury concern what was interesting about Clea Davis is the fact that he played linebacker in college until late in his career then they moved him in the defensive line so it was an adjustment Not only was it an adjustment for Kalia Davis as far as what he had to do on the field going from playing a Mike linebacker to playing a guy that's going to have his hand in the ground and get off the football and learn different techniques but also he had to put weight on his body he had to change his body he had to add weight to be able to withstand playing defensive line I think in some cases that made him a little bit of topheavy when he was in college he would lose balance uh because he had a little bit more weight up top now through the last two years I'm very hopeful that he's been able to kind of you know counteract that get more balance in his lower half and I felt like he did and he spent the entire rookie season on pup he had three weeks of practice at the end of the year forers could open up the window they did not activate him for the rest of the season but it was good they said he was really good he was practice player of the you know the weeks he was doing very good so they're very optimistic last year he came into training camp everyone's optimistic and he started getting hurt and he started not being on the field and missing those snaps is huge came back at the end of training camp came back at the end of preseason and was able to play in the last preseason game last year when we went to 53 man roster I'm like I don't think he did enough I I don't I don't think he's going to be on this football team uh because he only had the one week well the 49ers elected to keep him and they elected to keep him and they had him active during the season so Kalia Davis got some reps during the year now his first look he looked pretty good 18 really good snaps against the Philadelphia Eagles problem is after that it wasn't always there you saw a guy that played high he wasn't as fast as you'd expect from an athlete of his stature who was a former linebacker and that was one of the things that John Lynch was very high on was he had that first step athleticism and quickness like DJ Jones is who we equated him to enough that they gave him DJ Jones's number so with Kalia Davis we know there's upside we just haven't seen it yet well this is it this is the training camp he has to prove it where he has to prove that he can make this roster he has to convince the 49ers to keep five interior defensive lineman again his problem there's five probably Edge rushers that they want to keep because they don't want to lose Drake Jackson They Don't Want to Lose Robert Peele so Kalia Davis has got an uphill climb to make this roster He's got potential he's going to have to go out there now and live up to the potential that he's displayed so far so Kalia Davis right right now on the outside looking in but talk about a guy that has the ability to be Stout against the Run uh because of his low center of gravity and the way he can play low but the quickness the ability to uh dive in there I mean one of the things I was so fun about watching his college film was how aggressive he was off the line of scrimmage and he would get up there and he would penetrate and blow plays up in the back field he didn't always finish the plays but he would blow them up because of how quick and how fast and how special he was in that department I think where he struggles a little bit sometimes he's easy to get trapped Ernest Brown he's easy to go the wrong way struggles with misdirection locating the football uh those things he has to get a little bit better at but I think overall he's still a good Prospect we'll see what happens I think this is where the rubber meets the road for Kia Davis either he's going to impress and he's going to make the team as a fifth defensive tackle I think they would love for him to be able to overtake Kevin given but um you know we'll we'll see if he can make this team next up after that Ernest Brown he comes over from the Los Angeles Rams was a fifth round pick by the Rams in 2021 so you're getting a guy that's been in the in the division and you kind of have an idea of who he is now he been a little bit of a tweener he played defensive in in college and he looks like a guy that could go either way looks like the four yards are going to try to move him to the interior defensive line we'll see what happens but this is common for them to take a defensive end in college and then move them inside a lot like what they did with Spencer Wy now Wy gone the 49ers uh released Wy and or waved Wy he was claimed by the Green Bay Packers so he's on the Green Bay Packers now but Wy was another guy who played defensive end in college that they moved inside were trying to develop him as a defensive tackle put a little bit of weight on him you get him up to 290 295 pounds and they use their quickness to be able to be penetrators on the interior defensive line so Ernest Browns had some experience in the division experience uh with the Rams so guy the forers are bringing into compete we'll see what he can do and then I glossed over and forgot about t y McGill I think t y Mill is actually right behind Kalia Davis and everyone that's a 49er fan knows t y McGill has helped his football team over the last couple years last year he spent most of his time on the practice squad but another guy that's built in the penetrator mold he gets after gets after it gets in the back field and when he wins initially he wins Big when he doesn't win he can give up ground and that's kind of how a lot of these guys are the four yard defensive line if they win early they've got enough speed and athleticism to be real disruptors if they do not they have the problem of getting beat and getting pushed back and t y Mill is no different um I think t y Migel needs to get better again against the run but he's been in the league for a long time so I don't know how much more Evan Anderson improving he's going to do but I like him as a depth piece I like him as a a guy the forers have in case somebody gets injured ahead of him be able to step step in who understands his defense been playing for Chris casser for two years now uh so I think that he's solid so him then Ernest Brown and then probably the one that 49er fans have been really excited about is Evan Anderson 49 new undrafted free agent uh he's he's a big dude six foot tall over 325 pounds he's got 32inch arms not the biggest arms are long lengthwise but you've got a large you know Mass of a man and when you're talking about run stopping and being a two gapper this is the kind of player and the kind of build you're looking for I would say he's a little short for a defensive lineman normally they're 61 62 63 uh but you know that's not a real concern as long as he can play with low pad level and be able to hold up against double teams I would say his first step is okay uh probably could get a better First Step maybe Chris casser can help him get off the football better I think that he is a guy that's got the size your looking for I just wonder if he translates this guy reminds me a lot of Darion Daniels who they had out of Nebraska a few years ago that they brought in there everyone was super high on he ended up being on the four yards practice squad for a couple years and you get the same sort of thing here I think Anderson needs to make sure he plays better with low pad level I think sometimes he gets a little high and on occasion when he gets when he gets squared up with a double team he gets pushed absolutely back so I think he's a developmental guy he doesn't exactly have uh the ability to win with secondary pass rush moves once again a guy that if he wins initially he's going to win if he loses he's going to lose bad he doesn't have the secondary pass rush moves to be able to counteract and use the next move and be able to get to the quarterback so he's what I'm going to keep my eye on because he's got a lot of potential one of those things where it's a lot of raw technique right now if Chris cacer could get his hands on him and he can learn a lot of the hand technique a lot of the body work uh and also keeping his his Center of gravity low and his Pad level low then he could be a guy that the 49ers ultimately look at you know as as a guy that could maybe break into this uh roster I think he's going to be on the practice squad this year I think that's a likelihood for him I think they see him as a long-term project as well but he's a different type of player than the other guys that are on the 49ers roster most of the 49ers roster is built with guys that win with speed and so he's a different element so having different elements is always a key to helping your football team team get a little bit better so just to go down this is the the depth chart for the 49ers right now Javon hardgrave Malik Collins Jordan Elliott and know if you have those two guys switched Malik Collins and Jordan Elliott no argument for me I think it's an open competition in training camp and the best players going to get the starting reps we know that each one of them have a unique uh strength with Collins's pass rush with uh Elliott it's stopping the run so you got that going for you and then Kevin given number four four that's pretty much the role that he's had over the last couple Seasons rotating in as defensive tackle number four CA Davis a guy with tremendous upside hasn't been able to stay healthy who do we talk about this the same way Danny gray and they come from the same draft one in the third round one in the sixth round guys with tremendous upside but haven't really been able to get onto the field uh because of injury concerns so this is their year to be able to prove it I think they were actually 2020 two draft uh so they've got some some work to do to be able to get you know onto the roster and Clea Davis does have the athletic ability he does have the size he just got to put it together and stay healthy then Ty y Migel so t y Mill's number six obviously 49ers could keep five defensive linemen in the interior uh unlikely they would keep six that would put t y McGill you know potentially on the practice squad again Ernest Brown a fifth round pick we know the for yards love fifth round picks in you know in 2021 your fifth round picks were taleno huanga and and um yam Lenor so potentially maybe Ernest Brown had some of that fifth round magic he didn't work out for the Rams didn't have a lot of opportunities he played in 12 games there could he have more opportunities with the 49ers I think he's got a long way to go uh to build up to and then of course undrafted free agent Evan Anderson brings it up you know at the end he's got to learn the system he's got to get used to playing for the 4 yards and I know because I watched Javon kin and I I've watched other defensive linemen who come here like Kalia Davis and their first responsibilities are always get low play low so Chris CER is going to put him through the ringer about getting him to play low and getting that pad level low uh but let me know what you guys think about this 49ers defensive line the interior defensive line number one do you think the 4 defensive line the interior uh is good enough to stop the run and do you prefer Malik Collins to uh Jordan Elliott as far as starting or do you think it should be the other way around round anded what do you think about klea Davis can he finally make this roster let me know in the comments section down below I think it's a fun conversation fors have worked on improving the defensive line they lost Eric Armstead they added guys who play a lot of snaps and don't get injured but will there be enough production to make up for the blueprint I think it's something that's going to be interesting to see when we get into preseason training camp and ultimately the regular season to see how these guys handle it but I think they did a pretty good job of kind of filling some of the holes left by Armstead moving on like And subscribe to the channel if you haven't already really appreciate it you're listening to audio platform 4 Ys cutback on believe please give it a five star rating and like always this episode brought to you by bet online the game starts here I'll catch you guys on the next one until then stay safe and remember the right way is always the 49ers way for