Once again, the San Francisco 49ers continue to be hit by the injury bug, and it’s coming in heaps on the defensive line.
Star defensive end Nick Bosa suffered a calf injury in practice during warmups, with head coach Kyle Shanahan expecting him to miss a few weeks, although the 49ers are not expected to place him on Injured Reserve with their number of injuries.
While he’s expected to return this season, that marks the sixth defensive lineman that has gotten injured over the past few weeks, with Bosa
joining C.J. West as a multi-week injury on the defensive line. Currently, the 49ers are without Bosa, West, Mykel Williams, Alfred Collins, Sam Okuayinonu, James Thompson Jr., and Romello Height, who is out for Sunday with a broken hand.
The 49ers were hoping for better results from their defensive line after their 2025 unit ranked last in the NFL in sacks. Now, they’ll be working without a good portion of their rotation, with a ton of new bodies in the building.
Osa Odighizuwa will have to lead this defensive line now. While he hasn’t gotten a sack, Odighizuwa has done quite well through two weeks as a pass-rusher. His eight pressures lead the team and he has a very-respectable 15.8 percent pass rush win rate, according to PFF.
But it’s the surrounding pieces that will have to step up. At the top of that list? Rookie fourth-round defensive tackle Gracen Halton.
Halton, considered one of the “value” picks by the 49ers in the 2026 NFL Draft, was expected to be a rotational piece on the interior for San Francisco with Alfred Collins, C.J. West, and Odighizuwa all in the mix. However, his role has changed dramatically with the injuries.
Halton played 32 snaps against the Miami Dolphins in Week 2, which was second amongst defensive tackles behind Odighizuwa. It was the same story in Week 1 when he played 31 snaps against the Los Angeles Rams. That number could even start to go up this week without West, who had played 23 and 26 snaps in the first two weeks, and Bosa.
What has Raheem Morris seen from his rookie so far?
“He played well,” Morris said of Halton’s performance against the Dolphins. “He had some good plays, had some rookie plays. You know, there’s always going to be some ups, always going to be some downs, but really excited to see. I think he got a tackle for loss that I can remember, had a nice celebration on. Did some really good things, gave us great energy, great juice inside there. Plays bigger than his actual stature. Did a lot of really cool things. Really excited about where he’s going to go and what he can do for the Niners.”
Halton had two pressures in Week 2, and is now tied for third on the team with three in two weeks. What has surprised the coaching staff so far?
“I think I said this before, but his movement was not the surprise,” Morris said. “He had great movement and things like that in Oklahoma. His natural ability to move around and kind of stunt and do some things like that. We thought we would get like this guy that can really help out in the pass rush. We knew that right away.
“But, when he got here, really shocked us with his ability to use his hands and played well in the run game and be able to be stout and do some real cool things there. I forget when we kind of got that revelation. I think it was sometime in camp, we put the pads on for sure, but his ability to go out there and play the run for us is really good as well. We’re excited about that with him going forward.”
During the pre-draft process, Morris had a strong comp for Halton: Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Kobie Turner, as he believes the rookie can be versatile.
“He certainly can [be versatile and play multiple spots],” Morris said of Halton. “You like Osa to be at that three technique. You like him if we’re playing with the four-down front for him to be at that nose tackle. But, he can do both. He can multitask. I think I compared him to Kobie Turner in the draft when I was talking to you guys last. I’m not sure, but he’s kind of got some of those type of qualities where he can play nose, play three technique, do a couple of different things. Really smart, really sharp young man. Really excited about him.”
The 49ers will need their rookie to really start stepping up in the coming weeks, as they’re shorthanded up front on the defensive line.
Next up is the Arizona Cardinals, but after that comes the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks. Some pretty tough and important matchups are on the way.
