SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- As the San Francisco 49ers regrouped and reset this week after losing star defensive end Nick Bosa to a season-ending right knee injury, there were no inspirational speeches or passionate pleas to be heard.
Inside the walls of the Niners' training facility, such words weren't needed. Nobody wanted to pretend that losing Bosa was anything but a devastating blow, and any mention of the need to help fill the void went without saying.
"Anytime somebody like that goes down, you need so many guys to replace him," running back Christian McCaffrey said.
"The vibe has been pretty urgent. When you lose somebody like that, the whole team needs to step up."
On a team that still boasts about a half-dozen superstars counted among the best in the league at their position, the argument could be made that Bosa is the best of the bunch and, given how he started the season, was on his way to his finest season yet before the ACL in his right knee gave out against the Arizona Cardinals.
Since the Niners used the No. 2 pick on Bosa in the 2019 NFL draft, he ranks fourth in the NFL in pressure rate (12.1%) and sacks (64.5), second in quarterback hits (168), eighth in sacks created for others (59) and ninth in pass rush win rate (21%).
Along the way, he earned the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year award in 2019 and the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2022, was a first-team All-Pro in 2022 and has garnered five Pro Bowl nods.
All of which is to say that if Bosa isn't the Niners' most indispensable player, he's at least on the podium and there's no way to simply replace him with one player or even two. It's a notion that has been delivered multiple times by multiple Niners since Bosa's injury.
"Losing Nick is a big deal," linebacker Fred Warner said. "That's one of the best players, not just on our team, but on the planet."
As is only natural in a case such as this, the immediate question then becomes what will the 49ers do to replace Bosa? In the short term, the options on the roster are equal parts promising and unproven.
Rookie Mykel Williams was already starting opposite Bosa, and though he has played well the first three weeks, he still needs polish as a pass rusher from the edge. He has generally played outside on first and second down and kicked inside in obvious passing situations. He will continue in that role, though there could be more outside snaps for him moving forward.
Bryce Huff, whom the team acquired from the Philadelphia Eagles in the offseason, is the expected replacement for Bosa in the starting lineup, and though he's more of a pass rush specialist, he has looked at home in Robert Saleh's defense where the instructions are often pretty simple: Get the quarterback.
It's a significant departure from last year, when Huff was a square peg in a round hole attempting to play stand-up outside linebacker for Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. Huff said Wednesday that he's "thinking a lot less" and can simply read and react in Saleh's scheme.
Behind Williams and Huff, the Niners also have Yetur Gross-Matos, Sam Okuayinonu and Robert Beal Jr., whom the team promoted from the practice squad this week. Gross-Matos is similar to Williams in terms of role, so he could theoretically take some of the run defending work off Huff's plate, but he also is dealing with a knee injury that has allowed him to practice just once during the week before playing in the game.
Okuayinonu is more of a pure edge rusher than Gross-Matos, and Beal's promotion should alleviate some of his special teams role for now. It also wouldn't be a surprise to see Saleh dial up more blitzes in Bosa's absence. In the 97 regular-season and playoff games the Niners have played with Bosa, they've blitzed just 20% of the time. In the 18 games they've played without him, that has spiked to 31.9%.
Without Bosa, the Niners' remaining defensive ends know they can't try to do too much.
"We've all been brought here to perform at a high level," Huff said. "With Nick being out, we definitely have to pick up the slack on that front and go out and put our best foot forward."
With the trade deadline not arriving until Nov. 4, it's probably a bit early for the 49ers to look for a quick fix. The next few games -- vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars, at the Los Angeles Rams and at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- should give the Niners a better idea of how good they are and what they might need at edge rusher.
That time will also allow other teams time to determine if they are looking to trade and help the market take shape.
If the 49ers continue on a similar trajectory to their 3-0 start, coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch haven't and likely won't shy away from making big moves.
Which is why a name like Cincinnati's Trey Hendrickson is sure to be connected to the Niners often in the coming weeks. Hendrickson is a difference-maker, posting a combined 35 sacks over the past two seasons. His trade value (a second-round pick at minimum) and compensation figure to be high, but he would be the closest thing to Bosa the Niners could feasibly afford.
Yes, adding Hendrickson, who has an expiring contract and would be do the prorated portion of his $16 million base salary at the time of the trade, would run counter to the Niners' "get younger and cheaper" offseason ethos. But if they believe they're a contender deeper into the season, the Niners have shown a willingness to make meaningful in-season trades, as they did when they acquired McCaffrey in 2022, receiver Emmanuel Sanders in 2019 and defensive end Chase Young in 2023.
There will, of course, be other, less costly options than Hendrickson who could be had, too. If the Miami Dolphins continue to struggle, perhaps they'd part with Jaelan Phillips or Bradley Chubb. The same could be said for the New York Giants and Kayvon Thibodeaux, the Tennessee Titans and Arden Key, and the New England Patriots and Keion White. Players such as the Eagles' Azeez Ojulari, who has so far been a healthy scratch, and the Jets' Micheal Clemons could be lower-cost options.
"We'll look at trades like we always do," Shanahan said. "But there's got to be trade options that make sense for you and another team. You can't just do that stuff just to do it."
While Bosa's absence will be felt most on the field, his presence in the locker and meeting rooms has been particularly integral this season for the team's many young defensive linemen. According to Shanahan, that should continue once Bosa returns from surgery.
"He's got a lot more wisdom than people realize," Shanahan said. "They call him the audiobook because that's how he sounds when he talks. ... He'll have to get away and do his surgery and stuff, and usually when you do that you stay down, I think in L.A. for a couple weeks. But he plans on coming back here after that and hopefully he's around more."
As for a timeline on Bosa's return, multiple 49ers sources expressed early optimism that he will be ready for Week 1 of the 2026 season. That will depend on how his surgery, scheduled for Friday in Los Angeles, and subsequent rehab go.
On Monday, Shanahan said Bosa's ACL tear is "as clean as it gets" and there was no additional damage to any other ligaments or the meniscus. Bosa, however, partially tore his right ACL in 2015, and he was ready for Week 1 in 2021 after tearing his left ACL in Week 2 of 2020.
According to what Shanahan has been told, there is no correlation between previous tears and a longer recovery when it happens multiple times to the same knee.
"It's all about how it heals and what type of tear it is," Shanahan said. "When it's clean and you go through the rehab and stuff, it's usually brand new after that."