SANTA CLARA — The 49ers will depend on three rookies to shore up a problem position group and it’s even more daunting a task than a trio of defensive backs faced in 1981.
The early returns on defensive end Mykel Williams and tackles Alfred Collins and C.J. West are promising. Barring injury, they’ll be counted upon to contribute power and muscle when the 49ers open the regular season on Sept. 7 in Seattle.
Bill Walsh used selections in the first three rounds of the 1981 NFL Draft to take Ronnie Lott out of USC at No. 8, Eric Wright of Missouri at No. 40 and safety Carlton Williamson out of Pittsburgh at No. 65.
Voila!
Instant secondary.
It helped get Walsh to the Hall of Fame. The 49ers came out of nowhere to win their first of five Super Bowls.
A big difference is the 49ers were a perennially bad team coming off a 6-10 season. Expectations were non-existent. Fans would have accepted .500 and been happy. Not so for the new 49ers defensive linemen. The 49ers were 6-11 but on the heels of a Super Bowl appearance and three straight NFC title games.
“This is not college,” West said Saturday after the ninth practice of training camp. “You don’t get a redshirt year. When you come in you need to be ready to play. I was always told pressure is never given, it’s earned. We need to earn that pressure and we’re going to do everything we can to break those barriers that we need to throughout practice.”
And pressure, physical more than mental, has been the name of the game on the defensive front for coach Kyle Shanahan’s best teams. There were plenty of reasons the 49ers slid to the bottom of the NFC West, but two of the biggest were opposing quarterbacks having time to go through their reads and running backs finding gaping holes.
The 49ers prided themselves on being one of the NFL’s most physical defensive fronts. Always attacking, never retreating. Instead, defensive line coach Kris Kocurek’s unit got sand kicked in its face by the bully at the beach on almost a weekly basis.
Tackle Javon Hargrave, a big-ticket free agent in 2023 who was hurt most of last season, was released, as were tackle Maliek Collins and edge rusher Leonard Floyd.
Williams, Alfred Collins and West arrived to join with Nick Bosa and others to re-establish the 49ers as a dominant defensive front after spending a painful year as a weak link.
Defensive tackle C.J. West (99) of the 49ers participates in a blocking drill during training camp. A.P. Photo
At 6-foot-5, 267 pounds, Williams (first round, 11th overall out of Georgia) has the kind of outside/inside ability Kocurek and defensive coordinator Robert Saleh prefer. He has brought comparisons to DeForest Buckner in terms of strength and power.
Collins, 6-5, 332, missed all of OTAs with a calf injury and was off to a slow start in camp but showed signs during Saturday’s practice of becoming more of a force. He was taken in the second round, No. 43 overall, out of Texas.
West (6-1, 316) has been called a “fire hydrant” by Saleh. He’s been a must-see attraction during training camp for his work in one-on-one blocking drills. It’s early, but getting West in the fourth round out of Indiana after 112 players had gone off the board could be another mid-round score on a team that’s had some big ones in the Shanahan era.
Like Lott, Wright and Williamson back in the day, the trio has different styles and personalities. Williams, who recently turned 21, is humble and respectful but with enough nerve to ask tackle Trent Williams if he could borrow his private Gulfstream jet (and ostensibly a pilot) for a trip to Cabo.
“My pops told me awhile ago, closed mouths don’t get fed,” Williams said.
Williams also hasn’t been shy about gleaning tips from Bosa, his defensive linemates and offensive linemen as well.
“I try and tweak my game a little bit with the information they give me,” Williams said.
Williams has worked with the first team from the outset, and health permitting, will likely be there all season.
“Just look at him, right?,” Saleh said. “He’s very powerful. He’s got great hands. He’s got great leverage. He’s got great flexibility to go inside and out. He’s unique in that regard, which we knew and why we were so excited to get him.”
Collins was quiet and reserved in his media session and is adjusting to the 49ers’ all-attack mentality as opposed to being a read-and-react defender.
“It’s `go.’ There’s no reading,” Collins said. “I’m working on that every day.”
Defensive tackle Alfred Collins works on his pad level during a 49ers training camp practice. Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group
After early drills where Collins was using his girth on bull rushes, he showed some different moves Saturday, including one spin which was impressive for someone his size.
In contrast to Collins, West has a low center of gravity he uses to his advantage and is as loquacious in a press setting as Collins is quiet.
“You see him. You know how he is,” Collins said. “He’s a high-energy guy. I love me some C.J.”
West, an interior player and not an edge rusher, nonetheless watches Bosa closely as all the rookies have done.
“I watch every single rep, every step he takes,” West said. “How he is with his hands, his first steps. He’s a great player and one day I want to be a great player and really make a name for myself in the league. Even though we play different positions, some of it does translate.”
He even likes Saleh likening him to a fire hydrant and thinks his body plays to his advantage.
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“I’ve got stockier arms and build so I can them out,” West said. “I use my height and build for my leverage and just learn to play low and get under people.”
The trio has bonded and understand their responsibility regardless of their experience level.
“If we have a question, we’re always talking to each other,” Collins said. “If there’s any confusion, we collaborate and it really helps.”