One ex-Tennessee Titans player is already taking the side of San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa on the eve of the huge Thursday, December 23 interconference showdown between the two franchises.
And this former Titan, who last played for the franchise in 2008, happens to play the position that Bosa chases each week.
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One constant debate involving Bosa is which award he could win after the season — with some calling him the Defensive Player of the Year or laying claim to the 2021 Comeback Player of the Year.
This ex-quarterback turned analyst has endorsed him for the latter award.
Analyst Chose Bosa Over Dak Prescott
Chris Simms of NBC Sports has labeled Bosa — who has gone from ACL tear to the NFC’s second leading sack master — as his nominee for the distinguished award that goes to the player who overcame odds.
“I know everyone has wanted to give Dak Prescott Comeback POY since this offseason, and then started engraving the trophy after Kickoff night. But Nick Bosa is my CPOY right now,” Simms said on his Twitter page on Monday, December 20. “Dak (and Joe Burrow) have been good QBs. But Bosa has been a Top 5 defender in the NFL.”
Simms, who backed up Kerry Collins and Vince Young in his lone season in Nashville, received one social media backer of his claim: 49ers team reporter Keiana Martin.
Carlos M. Ramirez of NBC Sports/Telemundo is another who backs Simms’ Comeback Player of the Year pick.
Simms doubled down on his pick during the “Chris Simms Unbuttoned” show on NBC Sports on December 20, saying the top comeback award is the most realistic award Bosa could win.
“Well listen, he’s in the conversation for defensive player of the year,” Simms began. “I give them respect to that. No doubt. Do I think he’s legitimately the Defensive Player of the Year? No. I think he deserves to be in that short list of four or five guys that are involved in it. You know, like we’ve talked about: Micah Parsons, Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, Nick Bosa, really those four. But the Comeback Player of the Year one is where people are dropping the ball.
“I know we love to give quarterbacks the awards for everything,” Simms continued. “What quarterback can we fit in there to give the award to not Joe Burrow or Dak Prescott? And it’s Nick Bosa. He’s the Comeback Player of the Year, 100%. And I’m going to continue to bang the table for that.”
More of his segment can be watched below.
Bosa Could Shatter Franchise Record
Bosa has done quite the trick with the number 14: He’s gone from missing 14 games in 2020 to collecting 15 sacks in 14 games this season, which is noted below by the NFL Network Twitter account:
But with three games left in this rare 17-game season, could Bosa shatter a franchise mark once held by Aldon Smith?
As noted by Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area on Tuesday morning, December 21, the third-year defender is on a similar pace that got Smith to hit 19.5.
“Bosa now has a career-high 15 sacks on the season. That’s the most by a 49er since Aldon Smith’s record-setting 19.5 in 2012. Bosa also now has recorded at least one sack in six straight games, which is the longest streak since Smith did so in seven straight games during that 2012 season,” Johnson wrote.
Oh, Bosa’s sack numbers could increase at Nissan Stadium.
Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill has been sacked 41 times, second most behind Burrow. And Tannehill has hit the grass for sacks four times in back-to-back weeks.
And now, one ex-Titan QB is a Bosa believer.
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Ex-Titan Calls 49ers DE Nick Bosa Comeback Player Winner