49ers DE Nick Bosa looks to build on strong 2021 season | Sport

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Here’s a scary thought for NFL players and quarterbacks: After spending the offseason honing his pass rush instead of rehabbing, his knee injury could be even tougher to deal with this year than his dominant one 2021 season.

Back home in South Florida, Bosa worked out with his brother Joey, just the two star teams figuring out how best to get after the quarterback.

That’s a far cry from 2021, when Nick Bosa spent the offseason coming back from knee surgery and wasn’t even able to get back on the practice field until the season started.

Bosa is already looking in dominant form.

“He’s one of the best I’ve ever seen,” defensive coordinator Demeka Ryans said. “Just the way he works and the way he shows up and makes plays, he makes it look easy. I know it’s not easy. He puts in a lot of work, day after day, hard work and effort. You see the fruits of his labor when he is not around. He’ll show up, he’ll be ready to go.”

Bosa has already won Defensive Rookie of the Year honors in 2019 with nine sacks in the regular season and four more in a playoff loss to Kansas City in the Super Bowl.

Bosa then blew out his knee in Week 2 of 2020, but picked up where he left off when he returned healthy in 2021, recording 15 1/2 sacks in the regular season and four more in the playoffs despite​​​​ something that didn’t work much on the field in the offseason.

This raised the expectations even more.

After lining up almost predominately on the right side as a rookie to accommodate Dee Ford’s preference for rushing from the left, Bosa moved around more last season and will continue to as line coach Chris Kotsurek has given Bosa more freedom.

Bosa said he plans to flip back and forth throughout camp to become equally experienced and comfortable on both ends to make him more difficult for the offenses slated against him.

“Sometimes I focus on one side and then I go to the other side and it feels a little awkward,” he said. “That’s why I do it in such a way that I switch every menstruation, no matter what, getting equal jobs.”

It also gives Bose a chance in camp to work with a few different tackles and work on his full set of pass rush moves instead of repeatedly going up against pro-level tight end Trent Williams.

A big year from Bosa will only increase the price San Francisco will have to pay to keep Bosa when his rookie contract expires after the 2023 season. General manager John Lynch said early in camp that the team was in no rush to move him on now, preferring to wait until next offseason as he enters his final year.

“Never say never,” Lynch said of the early extension. “But here’s what I do know: As long as we’re here, Nick Bosso is going to be a part of the Niners, and he’s going to be paid well for it.”

NOTES: DT Maurice Hurst tore his bicep in practice Friday and will likely miss the entire season. … DT Hassan Ridgeway (quadriceps) will be out for a couple of weeks. … WR Deebo Samuel remains out of practice as he works out a new contract. “I know they’re going through it,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “Nothing is done yet, but I know they’re working on it.”

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