San Francisco defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans says there’s no question who the NFL’s defensive player of the year should be: 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa.
“He definitely is playing his best ball. You talk about a guy who can change the game and affect the game the way Bosa does, I mean, to me he’s hands-down the best in the league. You talk about a defensive player of the year candidate? If it isn’t Bosa, I don’t know who else it should be.”
Ryans thinks the 49ers’ defense couldn’t do what it does without Bosa.
“He’s put our defense in the position we’re in,” Ryans said. “We’re not where we are if not for Bosa. How he changes the game, how he affects the quarterback, how he speeds up the quarterback’s timing and is still able to get as many sacks as he has. He’s able to get to the quarterback, put him down. . . . There’s so many game-changing plays that Bosa has made. The past two games: Against the Saints, he closes the game out at the end of the game when we need it most. And last week at the end, again, he’s on the quarterback, knocks the ball out. You can’t speak enough about Bosa and how he affects a defense, how he changes a game. If you want to play great defense you have to have a great edge rusher and that’s what we have in Bosa. He’s the best doing it in the league.”
Bosa had three sacks in Sunday’s win over the Dolphins, giving him an NFL-high 14.5 sacks this season.