SANTA CLARA — The 49ers might need to consider adding to their defensive front with Drake Jackson’s future uncertain.
Kyle Shanahan gave a less-than-positive update on the defensive end's status on Monday after the third-year pass rusher underwent patellar tendon surgery in January.
“We don’t have a timeline, I know it won’t be any time in camp,” Shanahan said. “We got to see how the rehab continues to go, but definitely not any time in camp.”
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The 2022 second-round draft pick appeared in 15 games during his rookie season, registering three quarterback sacks while on the field for 315 total defensive plays or 33 percent of snaps.
Jackson started out his second season with a bang, registering three quarterback sacks in the 49ers' Week 1 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, but only was on the team’s active game day roster for eight total contests before being shut down for the season in Week 9.
“Any time you do that type of surgery that he had, those are big surgeries,” Shanahan said. “They are tough to come back from and you never know how you’re going to react. We always know it’s a possibility it will take a long time, and it’s taking a long time.”
The two notable defensive ends the 49ers added to play opposite Nick Bosa during the offseason are Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos. Shanahan believes the team's current options are enough and at the moment and does not believe they need to be looking for additional help at the position before the start of the season.
San Francisco 49ers
“We knew that coming in with Drake, but also bringing in Yetur and Leonard, we’ve addressed that,” Shanahan said. “Especially with some of the guys we lost, we fell good about what we came in with on our d-line, and five practices in feel just as good if not better.”
The defensive line room currently includes Alex Barrett, Austin Bryant, Robert Beal and Sam Okuayinonu who can step in on the edge and Javon Hargrave, Maliek Collins, Jordan Elliott, Kevin Givens, T.Y. McGill, Kalia Davis, Shakel Brown as interior players.