Kris Kocurek shares why Nick Bosa felt need to become 49ers mentor this season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SANTA CLARA — As the longest-tenured player on the 49ers’ defensive line, edge rusher Nick Bosa is embracing his leadership role. Previously, players like Arik Armstead (now on the Jacksonville Jaguars), DeForest Bucker 9 Indianapolis Colts) and D.J. Jones (Denver Broncos) were the group’s mentors. But this season, 49ers defensive line coach Kris Kocurek has enjoyed watching Bosa evolve into the role.
Kocurek on Tuesday shared how the All-Pro has been there to support Mykel Williams, CJ West and rest of the young players in the room through the offseason and into training camp. “Just watching him with the young guys, put his arm around them after every rep,” Kocurek said. “Specifically Mykel early on, and now he’s kind of gravitated towards CJ, and all of them. For an extended period of time here we had Arik and DeFo and D.J. and a lot of the same guys the room. He didn’t really need to be a leader.
“Now, he sees that some of the younger guys in here that are going to need to play, and play big-time football for us, and he’s done a really good job of bringing them along.” Bosa had the type of rookie season that all draftees dream about, which led to the No. 2 overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft winning Defensive Rookie of the Year.
Nine quarterback sacks, 47 total tackles — 32 solo, 16 for a loss — along with 25 quarterback hits, an interception, two pass breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery helped the Ohio State product win the award, but Kocurek explained that it wasn’t mistake-free.
“[Bosa] was talking a few days ago about how it’s kind of reminiscent of his rookie year and the mistakes,” Kocurek said. “You go through it. It doesn’t matter if you’re the second pick of the draft or an undrafted guy. It’s a learning curve.
“Reminiscing about some of the things he had to adjust to, and he got adjusted to pretty quickly his year and ended up winning Defensive Rookie of the Year. Learning from his mistakes as a rookie and trying to help these guys accelerate their game at a faster pace. It’s been good to see.”
While some coaches might need to urge their top players to take the younger members under their wing, Kocurek has done nothing of the sort. Bosa understood that after the loss of so many players during NFL free agency, there was going to be an adjustment process — and the defensive end wants to help expedite the growth.
“He’s kind of done it on his own,” Kocurek said. “Obviously picking Mykel with the 11th pick of the draft and Nick playing a very similar position that Mykel plays, we need to make sure that you help him come along and teach him the small intricate details of the position.
“[Williams] needs to accelerate at a fast level and learn quickly to be able to get on the field fast and be able to put his best self out there.” Kocurek added that Bosa has been mentoring the whole group, no matter the amount of experience or what position on the line that they play, with the understanding that the first regular-season game is just a few short weeks away.
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