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The San Francisco 49ers' defensive line of the future is no longer their defensive line of the present. San Francisco announced this week that second-year defensive end Arik Armstead will have surgery on his left shoulder and be lost for the season.
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"From what I understand, (the doctors, training staff and Armstead) went through an MRI and then Arik, Ferg (49ers president of football operations Jeff Ferguson) and doc decided that the best option for him at this point in time after that MRI was go get it operated on." 49ers coach Chip Kelly said of the decision to have surgery now rather than later,
The 49ers drafted Armstead, a member of Oregon's Pacific-12 Conference championship team in 2014, with the No. 17 overall pick of the 2015 draft.
He recorded only two sacks as a rookie, but was tied for the team lead with two at the midpoint of the 2016 season before having to have the surgery.
Armstead, who turns 23 next week, suffered the injury in training camp. He was able to play through the pain until aggravating the issue while attempting to make a tackle in the New Orleans game.
The 49ers were hoping Armstead and his former Oregon teammate, DeForest Buckner, could book-end their defensive line this season. The 49ers used a second consecutive first-round pick on an Oregon defensive end in May.
They did start four games together, but both were hampered by injuries.
Kelly assured Wednesday that the decision to end Armstead's season had nothing to do with the team's 1-7 record, worst in the NFC.
"It was the decision of the health of the player and what's the best thing for Arik moving forward," Kelly said. "There wasn't, 'Hey, if we've got to do this, let's get him to play longer. The health and safety of the player is first and foremost in everybody's mind."
Kelly announced that Quinton Dial, who ideally would be slotted at nose tackle in between Armstead and Buckner in the 3-4 alignment, would move into Armstead's spot on the outside of the line. He said Glenn Dorsey and Mike Purcell would get a majority of the snaps at nose tackle. Both Dial and Dorsey are dealing with injuries though and were limited participants in practice yesterday.
If nothing else, the 49ers got a glimpse of the power of the Oregon book-ends before Armstead had to leave the New Orleans game for good last week.
"We talked all week to DeFo (Buckner) and Armstead with going against Drew (Saints quarterback Drew Brees), those guys pushing the pocket and trying to tip a ball to change a game," 49ers defensive coordinator Jim O'Neil said. "And DeFo actually did it early in the game, and we had two guys that had a chance to intercept it. Unfortunately, we didn't."
