It’s no secret the San Francisco 49ers have major issues at edge rusher.
Both of their projected starters, Nick Bosa and Mykel Williams, are coming off torn ACLs suffered in the 2025 regular season.
Williams won’t be available for the 1st month — at least — while he continues his recovery. Bosa appears on track to play in the season opener on Thursday against the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne, Australia, but it’s unclear what form that will take or if he might be on some kind of snap count.
The Athletic’s Matt Barrows believes that uncertainty could lead the 49ers to turn to a face from their not-so-distant past and bring back edge rusher Leonard Floyd, who played for the San Francisco 49ers in 2024.
“The 49ers entered the offseason with a hole at defensive end and somehow that hole has grown wider,” Barrows wrote on September 8. “Nick Bosa, who’s coming back from his third ACL repair, missed most of training camp while 2025 first-round pick Mykel Williams will start the season on PUP. Meanwhile, third-round pick Romello Height has been in and out of the lineup with various nicks and bumps and has merely looked OK when he’s been on the field. All of which suggests that at some point the 49ers will look to add a free agent like Leonard Floyd or Joey Bosa or perhaps make a splashy trade at the Nov. 10 deadline.”
Leonard Floyd Could Have 1 Last Great Season Left
Floyd, 34, probably has 1 good-to-great season left in the tank.
The No. 9 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears, Lloyd has averaged almost 8 sacks per season over his 1st decade in the NFL with the Bears, Los Angeles Rams, Buffalo Bills, 49ers, and Atlanta Falcons in 2025.
Floyd, who has approximately $88 million in career earnings, won a Super Bowl with the Rams following the 2021 season. In 2025 with the Falcons, he had 3.5 sacks in 15 games, and his head coach in Atlanta, Raheem Morris, is now the defensive coordinator for the 49ers.
He’s also been incredibly durable. The 2 games he missed in 2025 were the 1st 2 regular-season games he’d missed since 2017.
Disappointing Injury News on Mykel Williams
The 49ers admitted it would be a “long shot” for Williams, their 2025 1st-round pick, to play in Week 1 — now he’s going to miss the 1st month and maybe more.
“49ers placed DL Mykel Williams on the Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform List, meaning the former first-round pick will be sidelined for at least the first four games this season,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter wrote on his official X account on August 30.
“Mykel Williams and Isaac Guerendo must miss the first four games but can resume practicing after Week 2,” Barrows wrote on X.
“DL Mykel Williams and RB Isaac Guerendo begin the season on PUP and must miss first four games,” ESPN’s Nick Wagoner wrote on his official X account.
49ers Predicted to Bring Back $88 Million Super Bowl Champion