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Tuesday was quite a day in the Bosa household, or at least it would have been if the family was still together in Florida. Both Bosas were scheduled to report to training camp to be tested for the coronavirus, though padded practice won’t really begin until mid-August and organized practices and conditioning won’t be open until August 1 at the earliest, and only once players test negative for the virus twice.
The morning opened with the news of a five-year, $135 million extension for Joey Bosa. Not much later, his younger and arguably better brother, Nick Bosa, became the highest-ranked rookie on the NFL’s Top 100 list, at No. 17, which ranks the leagues top 100 players each year, as voted on by players.
The younger Bosa was exactly twice as high on the list as his older brother, who clocked in at No. 34, and surpassed Darius Leonard for the highest spot for a rookie. Leonard was the 26th-ranked player last year, the previous standard-bearer. Bosa posted his appreciation on Instagram.
Bosa is among five 49ers players on the Top 100 list this year, alongside Fred Warner (No. 70, the fourth-ranked traditional linebacker), Jimmy Garoppolo (No. 43, the eighth-highest quarterback), Richard Sherman (No. 28, the second-ranked corner) and George Kittle, the top tight end, who is in the top 10 and whose ranking will be revealed on Wednesday. DeForest Buckner ranked 56th on the list.
The accolades keep piling up for @nbsmallerbear.
Last night he took the 17th spot in the #NFLTop100 and is the highest-ranked defensive rookie in the history of the poll.
?: https://t.co/eV6gpS4OPo pic.twitter.com/w5KmC8A1Zv
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) July 29, 2020
One wonders, given that Nick Bosa seems to already be at least at his brother’s level in year one, what his extension will look like. Is he NFL’s first $200 million defensive end? The only thing that would seemingly prevent him from reaching that mark at this point is health, the ever impossible factor to predict.