The San Francisco 49ers’ Super Bowl LVIII overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in February can be attributed to a variety of factors.
Perhaps the team’s greatest shortcoming in that particular game, though, was its incapacity to contain Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
The Mahomes effect is real, as demonstrated by the actions taken by San Francisco three days into the new league season, particularly the emphasis the team has placed on pressing the quarterback and fortifying the line of scrimmage.
The 49ers lost several important members of their front seven, including defensive tackles Arik Armstead and Javon Kinlaw and edge rushers Chase Young, Clelin Ferrell, and Randy Gregory. In 2023, the fivesome collectively produced 177 pressures, 125 hurries, 19 tackles for loss, 17 sacks, and an 11.5% pass-rush win percentage.
SF replaced those players, though not exactly a trade-off in terms of output, with defensive tackles Maliek Collins and Jordan Elliott and edge-rushers Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos. Together, they finished 2023 with a pass-rush win percentage of 10.2%, 125 pressures, 72 hurries, 26 tackles for loss, and 22.5 sacks.
With Floyd on the team, the 49ers now have a reliable pass-rush option to counter Nick Bosa. In each of the past four seasons, he has recorded nine or more sacks, 45 or more pressures, and 25 or more hurries; in 2023, he recorded a career-high 10.5 sacks.
Young only recorded four pressures, one sack, and two hurries of Mahomes in the Super Bowl; Floyd, on the other hand, has the track record of successfully rushing the quarterback that the 49ers believed they were receiving in Young.
Collins has the ability to stop runs as well as rush passes. With 48 pressures and 28 hurries, he ranked third on the Texans this season. He also added five sacks, eight tackles for loss, and 17 stops (a tackle below the line of scrimmage) on designed runs.
