SANTA CLARA — Similar to the situation they’ve found themselves in with Jimmie Ward, the 49ers likely won’t be able to keep Arik Armstead off the field in 2016.
It’s been only two days of training camp without pads, but no front seven player has looked more explosive and engaged as Armstead. On two separate occasions Monday, the 6-foot-7, 292-pounder rumbled into the backfield to blow up a running call. On the latter play, he knocked running back Carlos Hyde to the ground with a one-armed nudge.
“Just playing football,” Armstead said. “I’m a lot more comfortable. I’ve been studying a lot.”
Pegged as a rotational player just last month, Armstead is now almost a virtual lock to start in his second NFL season.
LISTEN: Armstead excited to play with former Oregon teammate Buckner
The 49ers unexpectedly lost starting nose tackle Ian Williams for the entire season due to a phantom ankle injury and subsequent surgery. It’s also unclear when 31-year-old Glenn Dorsey will return to the field after tearing his ACL in late November, and whether or not he’ll still be an effective force.
All of a sudden it’s time for Armstead, who was drafted from Oregon largely because of his interior run stopping abilities. Williams’ injury means there is a legitimate hole to fill in the defensive line, with a couple of different options to weigh. Mike Purcell, an undrafted 25-year-old out of Wyoming, is more of a traditional nose tackle but has limited experience, with just 10 games played in two seasons. Then there’s 318-pound Quinton Dial, who is more of a natural fit replacing Williams, but he broke out last season as a defensive end. There’s no telling if his strong play will continue as he takes on a guard and center each play at nose tackle.
While the battle in the middle plays out, Armstead will be the clear benefactor, continuing to see full-time first-team reps at defensive end. And if Monday is any indication, the 49ers will have little choice about penciling Armstead in the starting lineup, while letting Dial shift his focus to the nose tackle spot.
“We don’t force our players into the scheme,” defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil said. “We try to build it around what we do best to complement them.”
The 49ers’ starting defensive linemen on Monday were Armstead, Dial and rookie DeForest Buckner — a young and imposing trio full of both promise and question marks. If this is indeed the group O’Neil and Chip Kelly go with Week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams, there is an obvious concern: sacks.
Dial signed a three-year extension in February after producing 59 tackles, but he tallied just 2.5 sacks in 2015. Armstead posted 2.0 sacks himself in a more limited role, but in three seasons at Oregon, he recorded just 4.0 total sacks. Buckner is more of the pass rushing persona out of this grouping, but it’ll be a tall order to ask the rookie to become a sack-master all by himself. If he does struggle to make an impact in the preseason, Dial could very well shift back to defensive end, while Purcell starts at nose tackle.
While sack totals don’t matter as much as the general pressure in a quarterback’s face, there is hope that Armstead can still develop into a pass rusher. He spent a portion of his summer working out with Seahawks Pro Bowler Michael Bennett in Hawaii.
“Make them (offensive linemen) adjust to you,” Armstead said about what he learned from Bennett.
It’s obviously too early to tell if O’Neil’s scheme fits Armstead more than Eric Mangini’s did. Armstead played 375 snaps a season ago as a rookie, just 32.9 percent of the plays. To compare, Dial played 640 snaps, while Williams played 659 — both saw close to 60 percent of the snaps.
But every indication from early in training camp is that Armstead is going to be counted on heavily in the 2016 season. And if he plays like he’s practicing this season, it’ll help redeem GM Trent Baalke of some prior drafting sins.
