The San Francisco 49ers have had several players dealing with serious injuries early in this 2025 campaign, and that’s included defensive end Nick Bosa, who tore his ACL in the first quarter of the team’s Week 3 battle with the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
Bosa was off to an impressive start to his season, recording 15 tackles (four for a loss), two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery against the Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints. And, even in Week 3, he already had two tackles and a forced fumble before his injury.
While the 49ers are devastated that they won’t have Bosa on the field for the rest of the season, they’ll at least get some extra salary cap relief next year, according to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner.
“Bosa, 27, will need season-ending surgery once the swelling in the knee subsides, and the Niners will move forward without one of their defensive stalwarts and the 2022 NFL Defensive Player of the Year,” Wagoner wrote. “The 49ers will get almost $7 million in salary cap relief in 2026 because of their insurance policy for a season-ending injury, a source told ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler.”
San Francisco wasn’t in the best cap position for 2026, with just $13.8 million in cap space (per Over the Cap), so this extra room should help out a bit.
This isn’t the first time that San Francisco has lost Bosa for a prolonger period, as the former Ohio State Buckeye tore his ACL just two games into the 2020 NFL season. This time, they’ll have to rely on offseason trade addition Bryce Huff and rookie first-round pick Mykel Williams to lead the group of edge rushers.
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