The 49ers' identity long has been rooted in a strong defensive line, but coach Kyle Shanahan wants expectations tempered after the high bar set by San Francisco's 2019 unit.
"Your expectation always has to change. You can't always have the exact D-Line. And what we had in 2019, I think that was by far our best one and that was five years ago," Shanahan told reporters Friday. "But we totally believe in making the D-Line as good as we can. So we pay attention to that, every offseason, every draft. That's a real important part of our philosophy.
"But I thought 2019 from the beginning all the way to the end was one of the best ever just in terms of what I saw in the field. And I think we've had some really good years since then. But no, you can't always expect it to be like that."
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The 49ers' 2019 defensive line was headlined by four first-round draft picks -- Nick Bosa (No. 2 overall), DeForest Buckner (No. 7 overall), Arik Armstead (No. 17 overall) and Dee Ford (No. 23 overall) -- but also boasted tremendous depth with players like D.J. Jones and Ronald Blair III serving as crucial rotational pieces.
San Francisco's fearsome D-line sparked the 49ers' worst-to-first turnaround, ultimately culminating in a Super Bowl LIV berth. While San Francisco fell 31-20 to the Kansas City Chiefs, the 49ers' defensive front delivered a heroic effort, recording 30 quarterback pressures in the Super Bowl defeat, per Pro Football Focus.
Bosa is the only player left from San Francisco's 2019 defensive line, with the feared trio of Buckner, Armstead and Ford just a distant memory for a once-dominant unit.
While the days of the 49ers' D-line completely taking over games appear to be in the rearview mirror, Shanahan remains confident San Francisco's 2024 unit is beginning to find their stride after a strong showing in Week 3 against the Los Angeles Rams.
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"No, I thought we had a good pass rush,. Not on every down obviously, but I thought we affected the quarterback well," Shanahan said of the 49ers' D-line's performance in Los Angeles last weekend. "I thought guys won their one-on-ones and had a good game. I always want it to be more, always more. But I thought they had their best game."
San Francisco added a number of veterans to its defensive line during the offseason, including Leonard Floyd, Yetur-Gross Matos and Jordan Elliott. However, it's taken a few weeks for the unit to hit its stride, with the challenge further amplified after Pro Bowl defensive tackle Javon Hargrave's likely season-ending triceps injury.
After recording 48 sacks in 2019, San Francisco's defensive front is on pace to fall well below that mark in 2024, logging only eight sacks through three games.
That 2019 unit isn't walking through the door any time soon, but if the 49ers' are to realize their full potential, San Francisco will need Bosa and the new faces around him to continue building on the progress made last weekend.
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