Nick Bosa's calf injury makes six 49ers defensive linemen hurt in two weeks. Here's who's left for San Francisco's Week 3 matchup against Arizona.
Two weeks into the season, the San Francisco 49ers look like one of the NFC's best teams. They're 2-0, they've allowed just 20 points, and their defense has been swarming quarterbacks.
Look at the defensive line meeting room, though, and you'd think it was December.
Nick Bosa became the latest casualty on Thursday, pulling his calf in practice. He's expected to miss a few weeks, starting with Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals.
That makes six defensive linemen who have gone down in two weeks, a run of bad luck that would test any roster.
The full list is brutal. Alfred Collins tore his patellar tendon, ending his season before it really started. The second-year tackle was supposed to be a breakout candidate after flashing as a rookie with 17 tackles and a pair of forced fumbles.
Sam Okuayinonu broke his foot. C.J. West has a bone chip in his knee. Both are on injured reserve. Rookie tackle James Thompson Jr. sprained his ankle badly enough to miss up to six weeks, and fellow rookie Romello Height broke his hand.
Here's the number that jumps off the page: of the defensive linemen on San Francisco's Week 1 roster, only three are healthy. Keion White, Osa Odighizuwa, and rookie Gracen Halton are the last men standing.
The Bosa injury stings most, and not just because of his talent. The 2022 Defensive Player of the Year tore his ACL in Week 3 last season against, of all teams, the Cardinals. He'd only just worked his way back, playing 70 snaps over the first two games.
San Francisco's pass rush collapsed without him in 2025, and there's little reason to think this version would fare any better.
There's also a paperwork problem. NFL teams can bring back only eight players from injured reserve over a season, and between the defensive line and a battered receiver room, the 49ers are burning through those designations fast.
That's why the team appears inclined to keep Bosa on the active roster rather than stash him on IR. Kyle Shanahan admitted this week that deciding who goes on the list is largely educated guesswork.
The front office has been working the phones. Naquan Jones arrived from Minnesota's practice squad, and Viliami Fehoko Jr. joined the practice squad. Against Arizona, expect a starting front of White, Odighizuwa, Jones, and Khalid Kareem.
Reinforcements from within aren't close, either, as 2025 first-round pick Mykel Williams is still recovering from a torn ACL.
The cruel part is how dominant this group looked before the injuries piled up. San Francisco harassed Matthew Stafford all afternoon in the opener, then dropped Malik Willis four times in a 35-13 rout of Miami.
Now comes the real test. Talent wins in September, but depth decides seasons. For the 49ers, that reckoning has arrived about three months early.
