Maliek Collins gearing up for debut season with 49ers that carries significant expectations

Maliek Collins' San Francisco 49ers arrival was a low-key one.

Acquired after the surprising move by San Francisco to part with defensive tackle Arik Armstead , previously their longest-tenured player, the 49ers only had to send a seventh-round pick to the Houston Texans to land Collins.

Despite the low opportunity cost of the move, Collins heads into his debut season with the Niners with significant pressure on his shoulders.

He will be filling the void of the emotional leader of the defensive line, with the huge respect for Armstead in the locker room exemplified by his four nominations for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award during his time with the team.

Armstead was playing his best football since 2019 before injury hindered him down the stretch, but he still tied for the lead among defensive tackles in pressures in the postseason (16) as the 49ers came within a play of winning the Super Bowl.

With Armstead and Javon Hargrave dealing with injury issues in the second half of last season, the 49ers did not get the production out of the interior defensive line they desired, with their run defense struggling significantly in the closing weeks of the regular season.

Collins will now form what the 49ers hope will be a successful partnership with Hargrave. Pass rush specialist Brandon Jordan recently posted a video of Collins going through an intense workout with training camp just a few weeks away. The video on Jordan's Instagram story carried a caption that said Collins' 2024 is going to be "one for the books".

The 49ers will be very happy if that proves to be the case.

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While Hargrave and Armstead finished fourth and seventh among interior defensive linemen in Pro Football Focus pass rush grade in the 2023 regular season, the 49ers haven't had a defensive tackle finish with over seven sacks since DeForest Buckner had 7.5 in 2019. Armstead had nine that same season, but played the vast majority of his snaps at defensive end.

Buckner had 12 a year earlier, and it would be hugely beneficial for the 49ers if Hargrave and Collins could threaten that kind of production by converting consistent pressure to take some of the burden off defensive end Nick Bosa.

Collins would seem an unlikely candidate, given his tally of five in 2023 tied a career high. However, his pressure numbers from last season point to him having the ability to deliver substantially more playing on a loaded Niners front.

His pressure rate of 11.1 percent in 2023 was 10th among defensive tackles with at least 10 pressures, per Sports Info Solutions. Hargrave (9.8%) was 19th and Armstead (9.3%) was 24th.

The challenge for Collins is to replicate that and get home on pressures more regularly while playing on a defense that should present him with plenty of one-on-one opportunities.

Defensive line coach Kris Kocurek has expressed his faith in Collins' ability to fill the void left by Armstead, and an already astute move will look even better if he can do so while delivering the kind of sack production the 49ers haven't had for a while on the interior defensive line.

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