San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa had 15.5 sacks, 52 tackles and 32 quarterbacks hits this season despite recovering from a torn ACL last year.
The campaign was a sizable jump forward for Bosa after an already strong rookie season in 2019. Bosa is now looking forward to having a full offseason to train at full speed to help him push things even further forward in 2022.
“I’m really excited to have a full offseason just to build on what I got to last year,” Bosa said, via Kirk Larabee of 49ersWebZone.com. “I wasn’t really able to maximize my strength and conditioning stuff with getting my rehab right and stuff. So this year I’m going to give my knee a lot of time to just chill because I haven’t really given it any rest since I got hurt, so it needs some time, then I’m going to get back and I’m going to get in the best shape of my life for sure. And I was in the best shape of my life last year, so it’s going to be another level. I’m excited.”
Bosa was limited during training camp and did not fully participate in practice until mid-August. He also did not appear in any of the team’s three preseason games.
Bosa had 9.0 sacks as a rookie in earning defensive rookie of the year honors in 2019. He then blew out his knee in the second game of the 2020 season, which led to the extended rehab process. Bosa said he was in a great place at the end of the season physically and is hoping to carry that arc into next year.
“I think my knee kind of improved throughout the entire season, so we kind of continued the rehab process throughout the whole year,” Bosa said. “So I’m feeling health-wise as good as I’ve felt all year -- maybe not this second because I’m pretty sore. But I’m just really happy with how it went.”
