49ers first-round draft pick Javon Kinlaw is quite the impressive specimen. His elite physical attributes jump off the tape and should allow him to make an immediate impact from Day One.
As impressive as he is as an individual defender, though, he should only benefit from joining the holdover members of San Francisco's dominant defensive line. Namely, edge rusher Nick Bosa.
"No one in this whole league plays harder than Nick Bosa," NFL Network's Brian Baldinger told The Athletic's David Lombardi. "I just thought Nick Bosa changed the whole culture. Everyone played harder. You talk to Joe Staley, who had to go against him every day in practice, he'll tell you.
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"Somebody that has (Bosa's) level of technique and tenacity, I thought it was contagious. I don't think it was any secret why Arik Armstead had his best season by far."
In being named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, Bosa had an overwhelmingly positive impact on the 49ers' D-line. Armstead notched a career-high 10 sacks, and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner was named a Second Team All-Pro. Buckner, in particular, was effective in combination with Bosa, but he has since been traded to the Indianapolis Colts.
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Kinlaw, whom the 49ers selected with the first-round pick they received in exchange for Buckner, will now be asked to fill that void. Baldinger believes he is more than capable of doing so, and expects him and Bosa to form another deadly combination.
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"One thing that DeForest did, they were really good at running stunts and games on that side," Baldinger explained. "DeForest was excellent at penetrating -- you remember the Super Bowl when Nick Bosa got the ball out of (Patrick) Mahomes' hands and just didn't recover it. I think (Bosa and Kinlaw) can really run great stunts together, whether it's an end-tackle twist or tackle-end twist, a combination of them will be really, really good.
"I could even see Kinlaw lining up at end and see Bosa inside, and see Kinlaw just crush the offensive tackle and just let Bosa loop around him. That's been a twist that a lot of teams have done over the past years when you have a big defensive tackle that can run like a defensive end."
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49ers defensive line coach Kris Kocurek was absolutely obsessed with Kinlaw throughout the pre-draft process.
Gee, I wonder why?