What is the 49ers' plan to replace DT Arik Armstead?

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- While a largerSan Francisco 49ers' salary cap related reckoning likely won't come until next offseason, they've already had to move on from a beloved high-priced player.

So it was that the Niners swallowed hard and decided to release defensive lineman Arik Armstead in March. The 49ers and Armstead, 30, discussed a re-worked deal but ultimately couldn't find common ground to keep Armstead for a 10th season.

In his nine seasons in San Francisco, Armstead had become a mainstay, both on and off the field. His value wasn't always evident in the obvious statistics like sacks and pressures, but when healthy the Niners defense was clearly better with him than it was without him.

Which is why, as new coordinator Nick Sorensen takes over the defense, nobody in San Francisco is expecting just one player to fill the sizable shoes Armstead leaves behind.

"Losing a guy like Arik, it's a big piece to try to replace," defensive line coach Kris Kocurek said. "When we went looking at these (defensive tackles), there was certain skill sets that we were looking to add to try to replace Arik's presence on the field."

After Armstead departed to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Niners moved quickly to acquire replacements capable of stepping into Armstead's spot in the middle of the defensive line.

Namely, the Niners traded a seventh-round pick to the Houston Texans for veteran Maliek Collins, 29, and signed former Cleveland Browns tackle Jordan Elliott, 26, to a two-year, $10 million contract. Collins and Elliott combined are set to count for about 37% of the $28.53 million against the 2024 salary cap that Armstead would have under his previous deal with the Niners.

But the Niners hope Elliott and Collins can offer much more in terms of production.

"That's big shoes to fill," Collins said. "I see what he meant to this organization, what he meant to this community. ... He's somebody I have a lot of respect for. I'm just here to be the best version of myself."

The early returns from this training camp indicate that Collins will get the first crack to attain that goal. He's worked exclusively with the No. 1 defense alongside fellow tackle Javon Hargrave and in between ends Nick Bosa and Leonard Floyd.

After his trade to San Francisco, Collins noted that he has long wanted to play for Kocurek, who has a reputation for extracting career-best production from his pupils. That feeling was mutual, as Kocurek studied Collins when he was coming out of Nebraska and hoped to draft him to the Detroit Lions when he worked there in 2016.

For the Niners, Kocurek and Sorensen envision Collins as the best candidate to replace Armstead's pass rushing prowess. In 2023, Armstead was 10th in pass rush win rate among defensive tackles (13.4%) while facing double teams on 59% of his pass rush attempts, which was the 29th highest in the league.

Collins wasn't far behind. He was 12th in pass rush win rate at defensive tackle (12.9%) and faced double teams on 59.6% of his pass rush snaps, which was 27th among defensive tackles.

Of more importance, Collins will get the chance to rush next to Hargrave and Bosa, both of whom are known for drawing plenty of attention which could leave Collins, who says his quickness is his greatest strength, more one-on-one pass rush opportunities.

Hargrave faced double teams at nearly the same rate as Collins last season (58.9%) but teams will likely have to choose which of the tackles to leave against just one blocker. Collins had a 24.3% pass rush win rate against one blocker last season, which was 14th best among all defensive tackles. And if opponents double Collins? Well, Hargrave was fifth among all defensive linemen in defeating single blocks with a pass rush win rate of 26.9%.

Suffice to say, in obvious passing downs, Collins and Hargrave should get plenty of snaps to get after opposing quarterbacks, which is why Collins is putting an emphasis on speeding up his rushes so he can win quicker.

"The guys that we got here, it's going to be a race to the quarterback anyway," Collins said. "I don't want to be a step behind doing something extra."

Of course, for those pass rushing opportunities to come, the Niners will first have to stop the run better than they did a season ago.

On 217 run plays when Armstead was on the field in 2023 (including playoffs), the Niners allowed 4 yards per carry, a 56.1% success rate and 2.41 yards before contact per rush. On 239 rush plays with Armstead on the sideline, the Niners allowed 4.7 yards per rush, had a 54.5% success rate and allowed 2.84 yards before contact per rush.

The dropoff was worse in the postseason, where San Francisco gave up 5.9 yards per rush with Armstead off the field, more than a yard more than with him on it.

Enter Elliott, a big (listed at 6-foot-4, 303 pounds) tackle who specializes in stuffing the run but, according to Kocurek, has the agility to rush the passer as well. Before free agency, Elliott got a stamp of approval from Jim Washburn, Kocurek's mentor and longtime defensive line coach who works as a consultant for the Browns.

What Kocurek saw when he studied Elliott was the type of big, powerful defensive tackle the team has lacked since losing D.J. Jones to the Denver Broncos in 2022 free agency.

"We don't want to just get a big guy just to get a big guy," Kocurek said. "If you're going to be a big man, you still got to generate the explosion that the system asks for. ... We were fortunate to find in Jordan a big dude who can hopefully be as effective inside as DJ was over the years for us because DJ was a presence. We feel like Jordan has a chance to be that type of presence."

In this camp, Elliott has proved tough to move with multiple teammates observing that he's already one of the strongest players on the team. He's largely worked with the second defensive line but it's not hard to see a scenario in which he grows into a more prominent role on running downs.

With the Browns last season, Elliott had a 40% run stop win rate, which ranked seventh among all defensive linemen and sixth among defensive tackles.

"Elliot is so explosive, he's so powerful and he's got some movement too," Sorensen said.

For his part, Elliott says he's out to prove he can be a three-down tackle capable of doing all the things Kocurek seeks. For now, though, he's content working in tandem with and echoing Collins on how to fill the void Armstead leaves behind.

"We just have to be the best version of ourselves every day," Elliott said. "He's a great player but now it is time for us to just play as a collective."