Welcome to Part 2 of our eight-part State of the 49ers series — where we’ll assess each position group and introduce some high-level solutions to get the team back into next season’s Super Bowl hunt. Up next: the defensive line.

There’s good news and bad news for the 49ers’ defensive line. We’ll start with the bad.

For two straight seasons, the 49ers’ D-line has been losing steam. The 2019 days of historical dominance are far in the rearview mirror. There’ve been good times since then — the 2021 and 2022 units both delivered top-notch run defense and a formidable pass rush — but those are vestiges of the past.

Even the 2022 line, despite being good enough to help that defense finish No. 1 overall in expected points added (EPA), was precariously thin at defensive tackle. That foreshadowed problems to come. Interior run-stopping became hugely problematic in 2023, as the defense dropped from No. 2 to No. 26 against the run.

On the whole, the 2023 defense dropped to No. 10 overall, a backslide that was enough to cost defensive coordinator Steve Wilks his job. Then came the precipitous 2024 collapse, during which the 49ers finished as the No. 26 overall defense — and No. 29 against the run. That led to the ouster of Wilks’ successor, Nick Sorensen.

Of course, the larger defensive tumble hasn’t been solely rooted in the line. It takes unit-wide issues to cause the staggering level of regression that the 49ers defense has endured.

But the line’s Pro Football Focus grades, listed below and color-coded to denote above-average (blue) and below-average (red) performance, weren’t pretty.

The line’s leader also didn’t mince words after the season’s final, ugly defeat at Arizona.

“Kind of an embarrassment,” edge rusher Nick Bosa said in the locker room. “It doesn’t feel good. It’s hard to look the guys in their faces as a leader on the team and that’s the product that we kept putting out there game after game.”

So, that’s the bad news.

And now for the good news. The 2025 rookie class is lining up to feature a particularly impressive stable of defensive linemen. Analysts have already been praising several linemen at practices leading up to this weekend’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.

The 49ers are expected to have 10 draft picks this year, and it seems certain that they’ll spend at least some of that capital on their defensive front.

K.J. Wright, one of the quality-control coaches on the 49ers defense, is coaching the edge rushers for the National team at the Senior Bowl. That might give the 49ers valuable insights on players like Boston College’s Donovan Ezeiruaku, Marshall’s Mike Green, and Minnesota’s Jah Joyner. Remember that the 49ers’ entire staff coached the Senior Bowl in 2019. That useful exercise encouraged them to draft future stars Deebo Samuel and Dre Greenlaw three months later.

Robert Saleh’s return as defensive coordinator signals that the 49ers will likely keep their same fundamental approach. Ever since 2019, the 49ers have operated from a Wide-9 alignment under D-line coach Kris Kocurek, with linemen spaced further apart to give edge rushers better angles against offensive tackles. Saleh successfully took Wide-9 principles with him to a head-coaching job with the New York Jets in 2021.

But therein lies a fundamental problem for a scheme that counts on linemen to command an inordinate amount of space: Top-end talent is an absolute requirement for success.

That’s why it’s not impossible to see the 49ers using their first-round pick on a premium defensive tackle like Michigan’s Mason Graham — even if trading up a few spots from No. 11 is required to net a player of that caliber.

“Against the run, he has an impressive short-area burst to attack blockers,” NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah wrote of Graham. “He excels in block destruction. In the pass game, he has a violent club/rip move and a powerful bull rush. His effort is outstanding.”

Graham’s college teammate Kenneth Grant, Oregon’s Derrick Harmon, and Maryland’s Jordan Phillips are among other interior linemen prospects worth tracking over the coming months.

Before the 49ers add through the draft, they must parse which of their D-linemen are fit to keep. The team signed a handful of free agents to two-year deals — Leonard Floyd, Yetur Gross-Matos, Maliek Collins and Jordan Elliott — before the 2024 season and it’s worth noting that, as late as mid-December, those particular players all seemed to be hitting their strides.

“I see a lot of guys in that D-line room,” Bosa said then, “and I want all of them back next year.”

The defensive collapse started right after Bosa said that. But there’s important context that helps assuage some concerns attached to those rough season-long grades listed in the table above.

A preseason knee injury hindered Gross-Matos until late in the season. He had three sacks against the Chicago Bears in early December, earning him NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors. The 49ers have reason to believe a healthy Gross-Matos can be the inside-out rotational force — cut from the cloth of their former D-linemen Arden Key and Charles Omenihu — that this system needs.

Floyd has seldom scored well by PFF grades. But his high motor has consistently produced sacks and 2024, featuring 8 1/2 sacks, was no exception.

After the 49ers lost top interior pass rusher Javon Hargrave for the season in Week 3, Collins picked up much of the slack. He finished ranked No. 7 among all NFL defensive tackles in ESPN’s pass-rush win rate, which measures how often linemen defeat blocks in less than 2.5 seconds.

So between Gross-Matos, Floyd, and Collins, the 49ers have at least three worthwhile contributors alongside Bosa. At least a portion of the line should be set for 2025.

But much more is needed beyond that, and it is likely that the 49ers shore up the holes from the table above through both free agency and the draft this offseason.

Might Saleh facilitate reunions for players who followed him to the Jets? Two former 49ers’ first-round draft picks, Solomon Thomas and Javon Kinlaw, would immediately improve the front at relatively manageable costs.

It’s also worth noting that defensive tackle D.J. Jones, who’s spent the past three seasons with the Denver Broncos, is slated to be a free agent this March. Jones, an explosive athlete with a wide frame who’s capable of gobbling up run blocks, previously helped the 49ers unlock the potential of the Wide 9. His pairing with Arik Armstead, who’s now with the Jacksonville Jaguars, was a lethal one — especially to close the 2021 season.

The 49ers have shared only one firm nugget about the construction of their D-line so far: They will attempt to re-sign Hargrave, whom they plan to release with a post-June 1 designation as a cost-cutting measure, once free agency begins. But that’ll only happen if the 31-year-old fits into the team’s tightening budget. If Hargrave exceeds that limit like Armstead did last year, the 49ers will have to look elsewhere for a replacement.

And even if Hargrave signs, this line features many more spots that can use upgrades. That again underscores the offseason’s good news. The draft seems to be teeming with talent at the position, and there will be free agents worth exploring.

It’s time for the 49ers to stock up.