Unfortunately, It Is Now Safe To Label This 49ers Player A Bust
The San Francisco 49ers have developed a good amount of star players internally through the draft and their development process. However, one of their recent high draft picks just hasn’t been able to be on the field and it may be fair to label him a bust at this point. That player is Javon Kinlaw.
49ers Defensive Tackle, Javon Kinlaw Vs Availability
It is not Kinlaw’s fault, but it seems clear he has a persistent knee issue that isn’t going away anytime soon. It was known in college that Kinlaw had knee problems, but the 49ers were willing to roll the dice on him anyways. The Niners in the off-season of 2020 decided they did not want to pay both DeForest Buckner and Arik Armstead. They chose to keep Armstead and trade Buckner to the Indianapolis Colts for their first-round draft pick which led to them selecting Javon Kinlaw to be Buckner’s eventual replacement.
That goal the 49ers had for Kinlaw hasn’t come to pass and likely won’t. Kinlaw has been a good player from the sample size we have seen from him. But that is the problem, it is not a huge sample size. Kinlaw is an athletic monster with tremendous size. He has the build to impose his will on opposing teams in the trenches and cause havoc. Sadly, his knee issues have once again landed him on the 49ers’ injured reserve.
This is Kinlaw’s third season on the team and in the NFL in general. If after three years he still requires clean-up procedures, which don’t fix the actual issue at hand, it is safe to say his body may unfortunately not be built to be an NFL player for years to come. He has yet to show he can get through one regular season and it doesn’t seem reasonable to expect his health to improve with lower body issues as a massive human being.
This feels like the kind of draft selection fans may look back on and see the players the 49ers could have had instead. Kinlaw is under contract with the 49ers through 2024 and it seems doubtful he will earn another contract with the team after that. The Niners now have a glaring need for another starting defensive tackle and will need to look to acquire one however they can because although the talent is there for Kinlaw, he just isn’t there.
It is uncertain what the third-year defensive linemen’s status will be for the rest of the season but don’t surprised if he doesn’t suit up for game day again this year at this point. It isn’t ideal, but that is just the reality the 49ers are in right now when it comes to Kinlaw. In his third season, Kinlaw has only managed to play in 21 games. 14 of which came in his rookie season when pretty much the entire 49ers roster was on injured reserve at some point.
It was unfair to call him a bust after last season because we had to see if the procedure he got done last year would solve the issue with his knee, but now the answer is clear. It’s sad to see a player with Kinlaw’s ability and potential just not have the body for the game. It isn’t fair to label him a bust based on his play. The former Gamecock is a good starting interior lineman at the NFL level when he is healthy.
Kinlaw isn’t the first time this 49ers regime has missed on players early in the draft. Some of the other notable “busts” that this team selected were Solomon Thomas and Reuben Foster. Mike McGlinchey as well while not a bust, certainly not living up to his draft position of ninth-overall in a draft that saw Lamar Jackson get selected with the final pick of the first round.
Luckily, the 49ers hit on the Nick Bosa pick which was a layup, and have been incredible at developing players on the defensive line. Surely, the depth will step up as much as they can. But Kinlaw’s knee has certainly set the 49ers backward in that area and that Buckner trade looks as bad as it ever has today.
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