Former 49ers defensive tackle Bryant Young, who has been chosen as the next member of the team’s Hall of Fame, owns San Francisco’s career record with 89.5 sacks. Nick Bosa only has nine career sacks, but Young thinks Bosa may be the man to break his record.
Young thought Aldon Smith, who had 44 sacks in his first four years before off-field issues derailed his career, might be the one to break the record. Now Young thinks Bosa, last year’s rookie of the year, is a player who might end up with the record.
“Aldon, unfortunately he didn’t finish his career with the 49ers, but he was a guy heading that way,” Young said, via the San Jose Mercury News. “Now there are guys like Nick Bosa and a couple others that have the ability.”
Young said he’d be happy to work with the 49ers’ young defensive linemen, if head coach Kyle Shanahan wants him to, and that he enjoys watching the current generation try to do what he did.
“In this day and age, anybody is capable of passing and breaking records,” Young said. “They’re there as a benchmark to achieve more. Definitely there are guys with potential to succeed that. We’ll just sit back, eat our popcorn and see what happens.”
If Bosa turns out to be the kind of long-term difference-maker that Young was, the 49ers will be very pleased.