SANTA CLARA–Four weeks ago, the 49ers trotted out their starting defensive line exactly as first-year defensive coordinator Robert Saleh envisioned it.
Earl Mitchell aligned at nose tackle, DeForest Buckner started at the three-technique, Tank Carradine played at “big end” and Arik Armstead locked down the “LEO” role.
Four weeks later, most of the fancy football lexicon you just read means nothing.
Saleh and the 49ers entered the season with an idea of how players would fit into particular roles, but at the quarter pole, San Francisco is willingly ignoring the defensive terminology its coaching staff drilled down during training camp. Instead of asking four players to fill four specific roles, the 49ers want their four best linemen on the field. Period.
“Trying to get our players in the best position to be successful, trying to put our four best out there,” Saleh said. “The whole LEO, big end, that whole thing to me, especially on base downs, is not the case right now. It’s trying to get our best four on the football field so we can be a functional defense against the run because that’s our standard. We’re going to stop the run first before anything. So the whole, for you guys moving forward, the whole LEO, big end thing, it’s not a name right now. It’s about putting our best people on the field so that we can be successful.”
After Carradine was placed on injured reserve on September 25, rookie Solomon Thomas was thrust into the starting lineup and forced to learn Saleh’s defense, as well as the speed of the game, on the fly. While the 49ers insist that Thomas is entirely capable of playing and thriving at the NFL level, Saleh knows that consistency is hard to achieve.
“For Solomon, especially. DeFo’s (Buckner) been consistent, he (Thomas) has to find consistency,” Saleh said. “I’d love to say that was a trigger-point, but there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s going to have struggles. Like I said last week, I’ll never waver off of this if he works the way he does, that consistency will come.”
The 49ers’ defensive line is much improved over the unit that played a significant role in helping the 49ers to a last-place finish in rushing defense last season, and that’s in large part due to the budding star playing at the heart of the defensive line. While Saleh doesn’t care as much about who plays LEO and who plays end on the strong side of his 4-3 scheme, Saleh knows he needs Buckner at the three-technique.
Buckner is among the most dominant defensive linemen in the league through four weeks of the season, and last week, he admitted asking Arizona Cardinals’ center A.Q. Shipley if he ever planned on double-teaming anyone else.
“I asked the center, I was like, man, are you going to help out on the other side?” Buckner said. “He was like, ‘No, I’m going to slide to you every time.”
Pro Football Focus ranks Buckner as the No. 1 defensive lineman in the NFL through four weeks of the season, and his All-Pro level performance isn’t a surprise to those around the 49ers who are stuck by his potential. Still, linebacker NaVorro Bowman said that Buckner has a chance to improve his skill set even more, because at this point in his career, the second year lineman out of Oregon is mostly relying on his physical talents to get by.
“I don’t even know how much mental is really going into his game right now and that’s surprising because his talent speaks for itself,” Bowman said. “Him being able to get off the ball and make the plays that he’s making and get to the quarterback the way that he is. Once the mental part comes and he really understands what offenses are trying to do, paying attention to stance by offensive linemen and getting the key and being able to make that play that special players make.”
Through four weeks, it’s quite clear that Saleh can lean on Buckner. How the rest of the defensive line shapes out is still a work in progress, but as long as the scheme remains the same, Bowman isn’t concerned with the options the 49ers have at their disposal.
“It’s just understanding the defense and knowing that this guy in front of you is going to give you the same picture, no matter who it is,” Bowman said. “That’s what it comes down to is being good on defense. You stay locked in on your fundamentals, even when you get tired, if you’re able to key in on your fundamentals, nine times out of 10 you’ll be right. So him being able to just rotate and get the best four guys, best energized guys at the time of the game really doesn’t hinder the defense at all.”
One of the ways the differences in Saleh’s approach has materialized is that the 49ers’ defensive coordinator has begun to use Armstead and Thomas interchangeably on first and second down. While the 49ers are still using the LEO and big end approach on third downs at times, Saleh is repping Armstead and Thomas at both spots early in drives.
“We’re trying to evaluate to make sure of the best combination,” Saleh said. “And to be honest with you guys, if you look at the first three weeks of the year, you’d see in base defense Arik Armstead playing the six-technique, you’ll see Solomon playing the six-technique, you’ll see them both to the open side. If you look at last week, it’s the same thing, we were playing a little bit different of a front against Arizona compared to what we did over the first couple weeks. So they’re still performing the same techniques, which is why, for first and second down, it’s not me thinking positions. That’s not even in my head, it’s trying to get our best out there so we can operate.”
They key in all of the 49ers’ tinkering is ensuring that the team’s defensive front remains effective. Thomas and Buckner each played 69 snaps last week for San Francisco, while Armstead’s snap count has also run higher than the 49ers initially anticipated through the first four weeks of the season. All three players are young and still relatively green, so Saleh knows he must be careful with how he uses them over the course of a 16-game season.
In the meantime, he’ll keep searching for creative ways to mix and match up front, and keep relying on Buckner to lead the charge, even if he knows he’ll receive more double teams as the year goes on.
“I just have to find out ways to win,” Buckner said. “Also as a defensive staff, we’ve been changing up the front a little bit on third down to try to change the protection so I’m getting a little more free and so other guys can get free too. I’m not the only guys getting doubles so just changing up the defensive front and stuff like that can help a lot.”