The 49ers invested their premium picks in giant defensive linemen, and their frames could prove critical at a key point of the coming season.
That the 49ers put emphasis on the defensive line by spending several picks on that side of the trenches was no surprise. San Francisco was always likely to attack its biggest roster need after a clear decline in play in that area last season.
More noteworthy was the approach the 49ers took in attacking it. In using their first two selections in the draft on Mykel Williams and Alfred Collins, the Niners invested in two massive athletes, before later adding a slightly smaller defensive tackle — albeit one still weighing 316 pounds — in CJ West.
The 49ers will look for Williams and Collins to each use their long arms and massive frames to help them disrupt opposing run games and passing attacks. Though they each need to make strides as pass rushers for that ambition to become a reality, the sheer size Williams and Collins bring to the table should allow San Francisco to make life more difficult for quarterbacks in a way that hasn’t received much attention.
In addition to having substantial issues stopping the run and struggling to consistently affect the quarterback last year, the 49ers also had little success in terms of their defensive linemen getting in the throwing window and batting down passes.
Indeed, per Pro Football Focus, the 49ers had only five batted passes last season — their lowest total since recording six in 2021. They had nine in 2022 and 11 in the Super Bowl season of 2023.
But with their frames, Williams and Collins have the ability to help the 49ers improve on those numbers.
Williams has a wingspan over 82 inches, while Collins has a massive wingspan over 85 inches, a key reason why he racked up seven pass breakups in his final season with Texas in 2024.
With Yetur Gross-Matos — the favorite to play defensive end across from Nick Bosa on third down, when Williams is likely to kick inside regularly — also boasting arms over 34 inches long, the 49ers’ defensive line package on true passing downs should be comprised of players whose physical statures naturally put them in a strong position to bat down passes.
And the 49ers’ level of options in that regard could be particularly important down the stretch of the 2025 regular season.
The 49ers a string of matchups with smaller quarterbacks from Week 11 to Week 15. Beginning that run with a game against the Arizona Cardinals and diminutive signal-caller Kyler Murray. That game is followed by a primetime meeting with the Carolina Panthers and Bryce Young — who is of a similar stature to Murray.
If either of Dillon Gabriel or Shedeur Sanders have displaced Joe Flacco as starter for the Cleveland Browns by Week 13, then the 49ers will again face a quarterback under the average height of 6ft 2in for the position. That would also be the case in Week 15 against the Tennessee Titans after the Week 14 bye, with number one overall pick Cam Ward measuring at just over 6ft 1in.
That is a point in the season where the 49ers will want to be gathering steam and building momentum towards clinching a place in the postseason.
Having massive defensive linemen doesn’t make dominance a given, and the 49ers will need to keep the likes of Murray, Young and Ward in the pocket. Yet the presence of the likes of Williams, Collins and Gross-Matos gives the 49ers the potential to exacerbate the problems smaller quarterbacks can have in seeing their receivers downfield and dramatically increase the possibility for throws from tight pockets being batted down at the line.
The 49ers will look for their defense to begin taking over games again in Robert Saleh’s second spell as coordinator. The matchup of some truly massive linemen against a collection of the league’s smaller quarterbacks increases the chances of San Francisco’s doing just that at a crucial juncture of the 2025 season.