49ers' Nick Bosa made a promise that haunted a former NFL GM
San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa is the best pass rusher in the NFL. Sure, people can argue otherwise, but their counterargument won't outlive the arguments in Bosa's favor. It was pretty clear Bosa was bound for NFL greatness. Not all NFL draft picks live up to their expectations, but the former Buckeye certainly […]
San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa is the best pass rusher in the NFL. Sure, people can argue otherwise, but their counterargument won't outlive the arguments in Bosa's favor.
It was pretty clear Bosa was bound for NFL greatness. Not all NFL draft picks live up to their expectations, but the former Buckeye certainly has and most thought he would, anyway.
Bosa also had his own expectations and he made it clear to former Arizona Cardinals GM Steve Keim what would happen if the Cardinals took Kyler Murray over him with the first overall pick during the 2019 NFL Draft.
"Having the No. 1 pick, to say the least, is pretty exciting," Keim said on the most recent episode of Good Morning Football. That year, we went down to Fort Lauderdale, Kliff, Kingsbury myself, and we visited Nick Bosa… and had a great dinner with him… And I'll never forget we were walking out of the restaurant, and he put his arm around both Kliff and I and squeezed our heads in a headlock and he looked over at me and he said, 'Steve, let me tell you something. Word is you're going to take this little quarterback. And if you do, I will absolutely haunt you the rest of your career.'
"And let's just say he made good on his word."
Aside from calling Murray "little", it's pretty funny to picture Bosa wrapping his nearly-78-inch wingspan around two prestigious members of an NFL franchise and giving them the playful warning he did.
But, like Keim said, Bosa held through on his promise. Not only did he win 2019's Defensive Rookie of the Year award, he is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. He made the Cardinals' collective lives hell by recording 3.0 sacks, 24 combined tackles that includes 17 solo tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss, 10 QB hits, and two forced fumbles during their seven matchups from 2019-2022. The 49ers also amassed a 4-3 record, including sweeps in 2019 and 2022, during that time.
And, Bosa has made the 49ers pass rush one of the most fearsome units in the NFL. It gets even scarier when adding the fact it should only get better thanks the Javon Hargrave addition.
The 49ers are obviously thrilled with Bosa and he's about to get a big payday, just like Murray did. But, it's safe to say one career is looking much, much brighter (albeit for different reasons) as we head into the 2023 season.
