SANTA CLARA — There’s no official day to commemorate the birth of an elite 49ers defensive line, in part because there are two moments in time the team can consider transformational.
One took place March 12, 2019 and the other six weeks later, on April 25.
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Those are the dates the 49ers traded for pass-rushing specialist Dee Ford and drafted Rookie of the Year Nick Bosa. A defensive front that had struggled to strike gold in recent years suddenly found itself with two elite players who know how and where to dig.
“It’s hard for an offensive coordinator to slide the line in a certain direction because you’ve got two really talented guys on both edges,” defensive tackle DeForest Buckner said.