SANTA CLARA – Nick Bosa, midway through a season with massive financial ramifications, richly deserves to be in the NFL Defensive Player of the Year conversation.
He has all that talk on mute, however.
“If we could win the Super Bowl, I really could not care less about anything else,” Bosa told the Bay Area News Group at his locker Tuesday. “That’s the good thing about our team: We actually have the mindset of winning games, as opposed to individual stuff.”
If the 49ers (4-4) are to heat up after this week’s bye and produce their first Super Bowl win in 28 years, Bosa must be a centerpiece of that.
What’s it like watching film of Bosa in the 49ers’ defensive line room?
“It’s like watching manslaughter, you know what I’m saying?” defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw said. “No matter who he goes against, the odds are in his favor at all times.”
Bosa may not crave more national recognition, but his teammates want it for him.
Two prime-time audiences could boost his stock after the break: Sunday night, Nov. 13 at home against the Los Angeles Chargers, then Monday night, Nov. 21 in Mexico City against the Arizona Cardinals.
If he gets after quarterbacks Justin Herbert and Kyler Murray in those games, respectively, then he’ll sure gain in the DPOY race with Micah Parsons (Cowboys), Myles Garrett (Browns) and current NFL sack leaders Matt Judon (Patriots) and Za’Darius Smith (Vikings).
“For sure, he’s definitely a bona fide player-of-the-year candidate,” defensive tackle Arik Armstead said. “We’ll see what happens the rest of the year. He definitely is at the top of that conversation.
“I don’t see too many other people in that position. He’s at the top of mine when it comes to that.”
Kinlaw concurred: “I’d love to see him win it. It’s about time. In my eyes, he’s been the best defensive lineman in the league.”
Bosa’s odds (plus-750) are the closest behind Parsons (minus-120), according to VegasInsider.com.
Bosa made the Pro Bowl in his two full seasons of work – he missed most of 2020 for knee reconstruction surgery – but he has never made All-Pro.
“I really don’t care so much about anything other than winning,” Bosa said.
He helped the 49ers win Sunday over the Rams by leading a second-half surge. His fourth-quarter sack gave him eight sacks in 6 ½ games this season. He hates that a groin injury forced him out at halftime of a win at Carolina and kept him out of an ensuing loss at Atlanta.
“The god-given abilities with the work ethic, it’s crazy, just to watch him go about his process every day,” Kinlaw said. “He’s one of the most consistent, most disciplined players I’ve ever been around. It all pays off for him at the end of the day.”
The Steelers’ T.J. Watt won DPOY honors last year to dethrone Rams three-time winner Aaron Donald.
Here are the stat lines among this year’s top defenders:
Parsons: 8 sacks, 14 QB hits, 36 tackles (9 for loss), 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble return for TD.
Bosa: 8 sacks, 19 quarterback hits (NFL high), 18 tackles (8 for loss)
Garrett: 7.5 sacks, 11 QB hits, 22 tackles (8 for loss), 2 forced fumbles.
Smith: 8.5 sacks, 12 QB hits, 22 tackles (13 for loss).
Judon: 8.5 sacks, 15 QB hits, 28 tackles (7 for loss), 1 forced fumble.
Donald: 4 sacks, 6 QB hits, 32 tackles (7 for loss), 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery.
Maxx Crosby (Raiders): 6 sacks, 11 QB hits, 42 tackles (12 for loss), 1 forced fumble.
Unlike most of them, Bosa has experienced the thrill of playoff victories and the agony of Super Bowl defeat, and that fuels him — and his teammates.
Bosa took mental notes watching Garrett notch a sack in Monday night’s Browns win over the Bengals. Specifically, he said he’ll need to add the move in which Garrett spun inside when a running back came on the outside to help the Bengals’ left tackle.
“It’s definitely a sick move,” Bosa said.
Garrett’s garnered attention the past two Halloweens for setting up a mock graveyard on his front lawn with headstones of quarterbacks he’s sacked.
“I definitely don’t have the time or care to do any of that,” Bosa said, “but he backed it up.”
That game was on prime time, just as Bosa’s next two will be.
In the 49ers’ earlier prime-time games this season, he sacked Denver’s Russell Wilson in a career-fastest 2.3 seconds, then, the following week, Bosa registered two sacks, five hits and 12 pressures of the Rams’ Matthew Stafford.
Bosa, the 2019 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, is positioning himself for the largest contract extension in 49ers’ history next spring, perhaps at $30 million annually, which would be $3 million more than the 2020 pact the Los Angeles Chargers gave his brother, Joey.
Otherwise, the 49ers must ask their defensive star to play 2023 on his fifth-year option at $17.9 million.
“I definitely have room to improve, always,” Bosa said. “I don’t like that I missed a game, but I’m happy I’ve been pretty consistent with my play, and I’m excited for the rest of the way, for sure.”
