It’s a ‘no’ from Joey Bosa. Where will the 49ers turn next to aid a thinning D-line?

Joey Bosa will not be joining his brother, Nick Bosa, with the 49ers.

In a shocking turn, the elder Bosa reached an agreement with the Buffalo Bills on a one-year contract worth $12.6 million guaranteed with incentives reaching to $15.6 million — out of reach for a 49ers team that’s been ferociously reining in costs this offseason. The 49ers’ offer to the 29-year-old edge rusher, who has missed 23 games over the past three seasons due to injury, reportedly didn’t exceed $10 million.

Bosa is from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and the nearby Miami Dolphins also pursued him with a closing offer short of $8 million. His father, John Bosa, played for Miami in the late 1980s. It was thought that surely one family connection would win the older Bosa brother over, but he’s instead joining forces with MVP quarterback Josh Allen — who was, ironically, a 49ers fan growing up in the San Joaquin Valley — on the Bills.

The 49ers’ state of limbo, ushered in by Monday’s mass of exodus of talent, continued and even intensified along the defensive line Tuesday. The team released 32-year-old edge rusher Leonard Floyd in the afternoon, a move which saved them about $8 million.

So with Joey Bosa not coming aboard, the 49ers have only three defensive ends — Nick Bosa, Yetur Gross-Matos, and Sam Okuayinonu — who played significant snaps last season under contract. They also only have four rotation-level defensive tackles — Jordan Elliott, Kevin Givens, Evan Anderson, and Kalia Davis — on the 90-man roster. The roster doesn’t feature a single premium player at that important position.

They’ll need to add numerous defensive linemen at both positions to field a competent team. The good news is that the NFL Draft seems to feature a particularly strong crop of D-linemen and the 49ers have 11 picks. On Tuesday, the NFL officially awarded the 49ers four compensatory picks — a third-rounder, a fourth-rounder, and two seventh-rounders.

The cuts of the 240-pound Floyd and defensive tackle Maliek Collins this week were presumably part of the 49ers’ desire to improve their run defense, which languished at No. 29 in expected points added (EPA) in 2024. Only Nick Bosa scored positively against the run, indicated by his lone shading in blue below.

New defensive coordinator Robert Saleh wants sturdier linemen who can help rectify this issue. The 49ers tried with Joey Bosa, who would’ve fit that bill, but he ended up fitting the Buffalo Bills instead.

Ultimately, the draft won’t be enough for the 49ers. They’ll need to also add D-linemen through free agency. Perhaps Wednesday’s start of the new league year, when veteran defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson will officially become available, marks a good time for the 49ers to hit signing success.

They did add at other positions on Tuesday. Here’s a rundown.

The veteran wideout, 30, is coming off his most productive season. The 49ers signed Robinson, who caught 31 passes for 505 yards and seven touchdowns for the Los Angeles Rams, to a two-year deal worth up to $9.5 million.

He even played at the ‘X’ receiver position, which can theoretically help the 49ers fill in for Brandon Aiyuk, who’s rehabbing from ACL and MCL tears and may not be full-go at the beginning of the season.

But there’s a catch: Robinson was arrested last November and later charged with misdemeanor DUI after officers, according to the AP, “observed a white Dodge sedan driving over 100 mph on the 101 freeway in the western San Fernando Valley, a few miles from the Rams’ training complex.”

The Rams were concerned enough with potential NFL discipline against Robinson that they chose not to re-sign the receiver.

“He does have some things that he’s gotta work through legally [this] offseason that could prevent play time in the future, so that’s the reality,” Rams general manger Les Snead said of Robinson last week. “We appreciate what he’s done.”

Perhaps the 49ers have more insight into the possible league discipline facing Robinson, or perhaps the uncertainty suggests they’re not finished adding at receiver.

It’s worth noting the Rams will likely release receiver Cooper Kupp before his $7.5 million roster bonus is due March 17. The 49ers could theoretically make a significant splash with one of Robinson’s former teammates.

Poor D-line play was not the only culprit behind the 49ers’ horrific run defense in 2024. Poor angles from the safety position, particularly from second-year man Ji’Ayir Brown (he delivered Pro Football Focus’ third-lowest run-defense grade at the position in 2024), also hurt the 49ers.

The team, which was already interested in adding a veteran safety last offseason, pulled the trigger at the position twice Saturday. First, the 49ers signed former Atlanta Falcon Richie Grant. Then, they inked former New York Giant Jason Pinnock. Both came aboard on one-year deals; Grant’s is reportedly worth $1.5 million with $200,000 fully guaranteed.

Pinnock actually began his career with the New York Jets in 2021, when Saleh was head coach there. The Jets waived him ahead of the 2022 season, a move that Saleh wasn’t all too thrilled about.

Now, the 25-year-old Pinnock reunites with his first NFL coach. He was most effective playing near the line of scrimmage with the Giants — and the 49ers can definitely use crisper angles and more juice from the safety position against the run in that part of the field. Pinnock actually graded as PFF’s No. 1 pass-rushing safety in 2024, a testament to the burst and short-area quickness that are hallmarks of his athletic profile.

The 27-year-old Grant, who also moves well in closed quarters, should also provide real competition to Brown for the safety spot opposite Malik Mustapha — who put up the best pass coverage numbers of any player at the position last season. How effectively the 49ers develop Pinnock or Grant in pass coverage might determine the final depth chart.

It’s also worth noting that reserve safety and special teams ace George Odum, 32, has a $1 million roster bonus due April 1. There’s a logjam at the position now, so it certainly seems possible that the 49ers will part ways with Odum before then —especially since Grant is a major special teams contributor (346 snaps last season) in his own right.

Both signed one-year deals with the 49ers and also figure to be key contributors on special teams, where the team ranked among the league’s worst in 2024.

New 49ers special teams coordinator Brant Boyer hired Colt Anderson, who served as the Tennessee Titans’ special teams coordinator in 2024, as his assistant. Anderson coached Gifford there, forming the connection to this signing with the 49ers.

Robinson had already been aboard. The Stanford product delivered an explosive training camp last season before tearing his ACL in late September. At the NFL Scouting Combine, 49ers general manager John Lynch said Robinson had recently “crushed” a key checkup appointment in his recovery.

The injury eliminated any chance of Robinson, who’d been scheduled for restricted free agency, receiving an original-round tender worth $3.3 million. The 49ers negotiated with him outside of that process, reaching agreement on a deal that’s presumably worth less than that amount.

The team did tender its other restricted free agent, running back Jordan Mason, at the second-round level of $5.3 million. Other teams can now offer Mason more, but they’d owe a second-round pick to San Francisco if the 49ers don’t execute their right of first refusal.

The 49ers can also look to trade Mason after he signs the tender. They’ve done so in a similar situation before — in 2020 with running back Matt Breida — and their cost-cutting ways this offseason certainly leave that as a possibility again.