Veteran rushing rusher Dee Ford picks up for some distinct Nick Bosa vibes from 49ers rookie defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw.
“(He is) everything you want to see in a rookie,” Kinlaw Ford said on Thursday during a video call with Bay Area reporters.
‘He wants to be a sponge. He wants to awaken everything, and he wants to learn. He reminds me of Bosa when he got in there. ”
The 49ers have hit the practice field for only walk-through sessions for the first two weeks of training camp. That changed over the weekend when the club had two non-padded practices before putting the pads on for the first time in Santa Clara on Monday.
Bosa came to the 49ers as the No. 2 overall pick in the draft of 2019. Kinlaw, a South Carolina defensive tackle, was selected with the no. 14 general selection.
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Ford said Kinlaw’s quiet, determined approach reminds him of Bosa, who won the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year last season. Ford said he would expect nothing less from a person general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan to bring to the organization.
“If you pick a first round, you can come in and you can … be a little bit right,” Ford said. ‘That’s not him. That’s not his DNA. He fits in well with the boys. When you get here, John and Kyle, they get specific players. Nine times out of 10, when they got them, they brought them here and they know what type of character they have.
“So far he is all as promised. He will get better.”
[RELATED: George Kittle, 49ers get to only reasonable destination with extension]Kinlaw and all the newcomers to the 49ers face the added challenge of missing the offseason program and organized team activities this season. Ford acknowledges that it will not be easy for Kinlaw to make the transition from high football to the NFL.
“He’s behind the 8-ball,” Ford said. “Every rookie is because of the virus. You can not get OTAs. OTAs were crucial to me, especially with learning a new position my rookie year. I can only imagine where his mind is now.
“But he treats it very well. He treats it really well.”
