Nick Bosa Leaves 49ers Practice After Pulling Hamstring

While the Bosa brothers are very talented football players, they’ve also garnered a reputation for being injury-prone. Joey Bosa has struggled with injuries at every step of his professional career, while Nick Bosa missed almost all of his last season at Ohio State with a muscle injury. It didn’t affect his draft stock too much, since he still went No. 2 overall to the San Francisco 49ers. But the Bosa injury bug has already struck.

Nick Bosa was clutching his right hamstring following a pass rush drill. He appears to be done for the rest of practice. We’ll have updates on who practiced, who didn’t later this afternoon. #49ers
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) May 21, 2019

Shanahan said Nick Bosa pulled his hamstring during 1-1 drills. He had been working with the second-team defense before he got hurt. Bosa never left the field, was walking with a slight limp.
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) May 21, 2019

This is a bad sign for the Niners, who are looking to rebound this year after a lost year due to Jimmy Garoppolo’s torn ACL. Bosa was widely considered the best player in the draft, and many believed he would have gone first overall had it not been for Kyler Murray and Kliff Kingsbury. The Niners likely considered themselves lucky that Bosa fell to the second slot. The injury possibility may be a part of the reason why Arizona felt comfortable passing on him.

If he does miss some time, he has the number of someone who can relate. Joey Bosa missed the first four weeks of his rookie season back in 2016 with the Chargers, also as the result of a hamstring injury. While it didn’t impact his long-term development, he didn’t seem truly comfortable until around Week 12, after which he logged at least one sack in each game played.

Nick Bosa wouldn’t be happy about missing the time, but he’s used to the rehab process at this point. He suffered a left groin injury back in September that kept him out his entire last year at Ohio State, and he spent the months since rehabbing and preparing for the draft. It’s still tough to get hurt on only the second day of OTAs, though.

Bosa is a perfect fit for the San Francisco defense. It would be disappointing for him to miss any time, not to mention the effect it would have on his adjustment to the NFL. Even the most talented rookies have trouble getting used to professional speed and size, and Bosa needs every rep he can get to be ready for the regular season and play up to his potential.