Why the 49ers' season could depend on re-signing Nick Bosa

Nick Bosa is the NFL's reigning Defensive Player of the Year and easily one of the league's best pound-for-pound players. The contract struggles between Bosa and the 49ers continue daily, as he opted out of practice the week the NFL season starts. It's concerning that the 49ers are stuck trying to renew Bosa's contract the year before he hits free agency. Their season could depend on re-signing him.

Bosa earned the Rookie of The Year award in 2019 as he finished with nine sacks. He joined the long list of injured 49ers in 2020, as the team had a miserable season.

San Francisco bounced back in 2021 and 2022.

With Nick Bosa's 15.5 sacks in 2021 alongside a relatively healthy team, the 49ers made it within one stop of the Super Bowl.

And 2022 was the year that Bosa found himself on top of the NFL pyramid. His 18.5 sacks were enough to run away with the award as the 49ers finished with the league's strongest defense. The 49ers would yet again be dealt an unlucky hand in the NFC championship game when quarterback Brock Purdy had a season-ending injury.

Bosa has 43 sacks in the three years when he has been healthy and is nearly unstoppable. He has an impressive eight career playoff sacks. With eight more, he'll have the record.

Although the 2020 49ers were pretty much guaranteed to fail, the 49ers have a 5-10 record when Bosa is unavailable, whereas the team is an impressive 37-14 with Nick Bosa healthy.

Steve Wilks's defense can once again stop and lessen the burden on Brock Purdy or whoever the quarterback is. Jimmy Garappolo benefited heavily from having a great defense and run game at his disposal. The 49ers allowed 17.2 points per game last season and just 20.6 points the previous year.

The two-time back-to-back NFC championship attendees will look to return to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2019. Nick Bosa may be the main piece in the puzzle for San Fransisco.

Nick Bosa plus the 49ers have a favorable 2023 schedule

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy

The Rams and the Cardinals are going to be bad in 2023. That seems like a certainty. Two of the three opening games are against the 49ers' division rivals before the tough Cowboys game in Week 4.

San Francisco has some more difficult games against the Ravens, Bengals and Jaguars and the rematch in Philadelphia. The return trip to the site of the NFC championship game should be entertaining as there is plenty of bad blood between the two teams.

The NFC East and AFC North are part of the schedule rotation for San Fransisco in 2023, and they close out against the Rams.

The path back to the playoffs should be long, but the 49ers have the dominos in place.