A conversation with Kris Kocurek on the 49ers’ defensive line overhaul

San Francisco 49ers defensive line coach Kris Kocurek is dealing with a lot of changes this season. For one, his longtime assistant, Darryl Tapp, is now coaching the Washington Commanders’ defensive line. Cameron Brown, the son of Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown, has stepped into the role.

Kocurek’s pupils also will be largely different in 2024. Out are Arik Armstead, Javon Kinlaw, Clelin Ferrell, Chase Young and Randy Gregory, and Leonard Floyd, Maliek Collins, Yetur Gross-Matos, Jordan Elliott and others are in.

Still, there’s more familiarity than you might suspect. Kocurek discussed the newcomers, the progress of second-year edge rusher Robert Beal Jr., and a prominent mainstay, Nick Bosa, last month during a media session for assistant coaches. Here are some excerpts from that conversation.

Nick Bosa said he played the run as well as he ever has in 2023 but that his hand usage while pass rushing wasn’t where he wanted it at times. What did you see?

I would agree with his assessment of himself. He’s always been a really dominant run player for us on the edge — his ability to reduce run lanes with his edge setting and the ability to close ground on the back side and get to plays. And then the instinctual stuff in the run game that people don’t really see. I thought it was the best he’s had since he’s been here. And in the pass rush, it’s difficult with the contract stuff to miss everything. And he does a lot of that honing-in stuff in camp where he gets the reps versus Trent (Williams) and the one-on-ones versus Trent. Those are really valuable reps for him going against the best of the best daily. And he wasn’t able to get that. And I think we hit the ground running with him with a walk-through and then three days later he’s in the game. Even when you’re the best in the world at doing what you do, that’s a difficult task to ask. So just the timing of things will be more honed in this year.

On why Collins is a good fit on the defensive line:

I really liked him coming out of Nebraska — just the explosion that he can generate through his lower body. He jumps off the tape. He can play in the backfield, he can re-create the line of scrimmage and he’s really athletic on the back side to make plays. And then it’s the ability to manipulate things in the pass rush — you know, get a guard to lean one way and then beat him another. … I’ve always liked his skill set, I think his skill set is tailor-made to play the attack-style nature we play. And he’s played in some attack schemes throughout his career last year. He was down there in Houston, so there will be a lot of familiarity from working with DeMeco (Ryans) and those guys in Houston and then coming here and doing very similar type things.

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On what he likes about Elliott:

With Jordan — we really liked him coming out of college, out of Missouri. Then he got drafted by Cleveland and played for Chris Kiffin, who was my assistant in 2019. And then he played last year for Jim Schwartz, who’s one of my main mentors in the NFL and gave me my first job in the NFL. Just watching him there, I think Jordan just brings a size element that a guy like D.J. Jones brought to the middle of our defense — that 320-pound frame that also brings extreme explosion through contact to knock back double-teams and dominate singles in the run game. And then he’s a big man that really reduces the pocket into the quarterback’s lap with the strength and the power he’s able to generate through his lower body, through his hands.

What about Leonard Floyd? What does he add to the group?

I go back with Leonard as well. We met with him at Georgia the night before his pro day, spent some time with him then, spent some time with him after his pro day. I really liked him coming out of college that particular year. I thought he was the most explosive rusher in the draft. As I’ve said in the past, anybody that’s caught my eye — that I really thought had the talent to play in our scheme — I keep up with them in the NFL. And things always circled back around. And it’s circled back around with him. I’ve always kept an eye on him and just really liked the way he played the game — the love, the passion and the talent behind it.

The 49ers won’t make Leonard Floyd abandon playing out of a two-point stance. (Geoff Burke / USA Today)

Will Floyd see action in both two-point and three-point stances? 

Last year in Buffalo, he played 50-50 between a two-point and a three-point stance. In L.A. (with the Rams), it was more of a two-point deal. Early in his career in Chicago, he was more of a two-point player. We’ll do a little bit of both with him. When we had Dee Ford here, he was primarily a two-point dude, and once he got here, there were certain situations we wanted him with his hand in the ground, and there’ll be certain situations we want Leonard with his hand in the ground. Sometimes, we’ll stand him up like you saw Dee Ford in ’19 and ’20, standing up on the edge.

Anytime a player is really good at something, I’d be an idiot to take it away from him and say, “You can’t do that.” We’re always known as a hand-in-the-dirt defense, but when you have a unique skill set that can excel from a two-point stance, you don’t want to just totally take that away from a player.

Does Shakel Brown fall into that category — someone you’ve studied in the past?

Got started on him last year in the draft, out of Troy. Watching him on film — it’s a little bit different scheme at Troy than what we run here. We tried to see if the skill set he had in his body translated to our scheme. And we brought him in for a 30 visit and we had draftable grades on him, and then after the draft we pursued him really hard as an undrafted free agent. We ended up losing out to Tennessee. So when we saw that he had been released, we were on the phone with him pretty quick to get him in for a workout to see where he was from a conditioning standpoint and where he was coming off the injury he had last year. And he checked all the boxes there, so he’s a guy we’re excited about. … He has a very thick lower body. In camp, it will be time to put some pads on and really see that size and explosion come to life.

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On undrafted rookie Evan Anderson, who like Elliott is a big-bodied player:

Just watching him play in college, every time I put on the tape he kind of reminded me of a guy we had here in the past — D.J. Jones. Strong with explosive traits in his body to be able to really explode out of his stance, re-create the line of scrimmage, knock back guards — some of the things D.J. Jones did for us down there playing the 2i (technique). And the effect D.J. had on teams in the run game — blocking him in the 2i made things difficult for teams in the run game. And you see some of those qualities in Evan — really quick feet, can change directions really fast, has a really thick, explosive lower body, has natural leverage built into his body. So he’s another young guy we’re really excited about.

Does Gross-Matos have the same type of adaptability as some of your past D-linemen who’ve played both outside and inside?

It was one of the characteristics that really drew us to Yetur. We’ve had that through the years with Arden (Key), Charles Omenihu, different body types. We felt like we wanted to add a dude that could legitimately do both at a high level. We can utilize his quickness and his ability to get fast edges on guards, similar to what Arden did. But you’ve first got to be able to play outside before you can do any of that. He’s got 275 pounds behind that length, really good edge setter against the run outside. The speed to power that he can generate on the outside really jumped off the tape. When Carolina moved him in over guards, you really saw his pass rush come alive working edges against guards with finesse and technical hand use.

What is Drake Jackson’s status right now, and what’s the strength of his game? 

Drake’s still in the rehab process right now. He’s working extremely hard to get his knee back. … I would say (his) strength is as a pass rusher. His slipperiness, his ability to bend, his ability to shorten edges, his ability to use his hands to create an edge. Very flexible rusher. And versatility. You can line him up at multiple spots and rush the passer.

Is Jackson still absorbing as much information as possible even while he rehabs?

He’s here 24/7. Shortly after the Super Bowl, he was back here going through his rehab process. He’s always an inquisitive person in the meeting room. Always wanting to know the reasons why. He sits right next to me in meetings, actually. He’s stayed on top of it. It’s a matter of staying with the trainers, continuing his rehab and getting back as fast as he can.

How hard is it to come back to work and restart the process after such a tough Super Bowl loss? 

It’s a difficult thing to do, to climb the mountain. It’s not like baseball, where you have a seven-game series and you mess up one of them, you’ve still got six left. You watch the NBA playoffs, see a couple teams get blown out by 30, come back and win the playoffs. It’s not that.

You learn more from adversity and failure than you do from instant success. So you face the adversity, you face the failure head-on. It should add a bigger chip to your shoulder or a stronger fire to your gut. You get to that day where you never put it totally past you — 2019 will always be there, last season will always be there. The wound heals, but the scar is still there. The main things that gets me over it is when the players start coming back in. And you feel the energy in the building. I truly switched gears starting April 15. And then you start climbing the mountain the next year.

(Top photo: Robin Alam / ISI Photos / Getty Images)