ATLANTA – Defensive end Nick Bosa withdrew from Ohio State in October to begin a 12-week rehabilitation from core muscle surgery and prepare for the NFL draft.
His school made it to the Rose Bowl without him. When he attended one of the Ohio State practices in Southern California, where he is training, he met 49ers general manager John Lynch.
The 49ers own the No. 2 overall pick, and Bosa is a distinct possibility as the club looks for an upgrade at edge rusher. Of course, the Arizona Cardinals will have the first shot at Bosa with the first pick in the draft.
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“I haven’t really looked deep into the teams,” Bosa told NBC Sports Bay Area on Friday at the site of Super Bowl 53. “Any team that picks me, it’s really a blessing for someone to invest that much in me. It’s pretty crazy to even think about. I talked to John Lynch a little bit at an Ohio State practice. He seems like a really good dude.”
When asked what he knows about the 49ers, Bosa answered, “Not too much, but I’m hoping to get to know them a little better.”
Bosa said he is healthy and plans to be a full participant in the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis this month.
“If there’s anything he feels he’d like to re-test, then he’ll go to the Ohio State pro day and re-rest there,” said John Bosa, Nick’s father. “But I’m pretty sure he’s going to be pleased with everything he does at the combine.
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“His training was a combination of rehab and training. Health-wise, as of about three weeks ago, now it’s 100 percent training for the combine. So he’s 100 percent healthy and ready to go.”
Said Nick Bosa, “I’m back in action.”
He said his goal at the combine is to “leave no doubt” among NFL teams about his health and physical tools.
Nick Bosa is the younger brother of Los Angeles Chargers star defensive end Joey Bosa, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2016 draft. Nick recorded 8.5 sacks in 2017 to enter the season as the leading candidate to be the top overall pick. He recorded four sacks in three games as a junior before sustaining the injury that led to the season-ending surgery.
“It was definitely one of the harder things I’ve went through in my life, just getting injured in the year that I was getting ready to blow it all out and have a really fun year,” Bosa said. “But it’s past me now and I have to look forward.”
[RELATED: OSU captain told Cardinals to take Bosa]
Bosa took some criticism for leaving the team during the season, but he said everybody who knows him realized he had no other choice but to bring an early end to his final college season.
“The people I really care about understood,” Bosa said. “But obviously there were some people who had issues, but that’s fine. I love all my guys at Ohio State, and they all understood what I had to do for myself. The players are all on the same page.”