Prior to the regular season, the former Eagles player Javon Hargrave received an extra energy boost from the NFL Defensive Player of the Year and 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa.
Before ending up being Bosas’ teammate and signing a four-year deal with the 49ers, the 30-year-old wrapped up his seven-year NFL career with the Steelers during 2016-19 and Philadelphia Eagles during 2020-22 playing in 111 games.
Nick Bosa compares Javon Hargrave to Aaron Donald
Being named to the First Team All-Pro from 2015 to 2021, Donald is unquestionably one of the league’s best interior defensive linemen. However, Bosa believes that his new teammate Hargarve deserves to be listed alongside the league’s top defensive linemen like Chris Jones, Aaron Donald, and others.
Nick Bosa believes new teammate Javon Hargrave belongs in the top echelon of interior linemen with Aaron Donald pic.twitter.com/9Uvu1DkWUA
— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) June 6, 2023
“He’s not talked about in that- he might be, but I feel like he isn’t quite talked about in the Aaron Donald, top echelon, Chris Jones, but I think he played like that last year and throughout his career. So him and Arik [Armstead] inside should be pretty fun,” he cited.
Many may object to Nick comparing Donald to Hargrave, but this is not just a brazen attempt to elevate his teammate; during the regular season, Hargrave was rated as the 13th-best interior lineman, behind only Dexter Lawrence and Jones.
How good is Jason Hargrave?
Javon made it a point to demonstrate that his athleticism was a gift from God starting in his rookie season. In his 17 regular season starts, he racked up 60 tackles, a career-high 11.0 sacks, 16 quarterback hits, 10 tackles for loss, two fumble recoveries, and a forced fumble.
Regarded as one of the best interior pass rushers in the league, he was called up in his first Pro Bowl following the 2021 season after finishing that year’s regular season with the second-most pressures, third-most quarterback hits, and sixth-most sacks among all NFL defensive tackles.
He emerges as the fourth among defensive tackles in the NFL with 11.0 sacks, and together with Josh Sweat, Brandon Graham, and Haason Reddick, led his prior team to be the first team in the NFL since 1982 to include four players with 10 or more sacks in a season.
With Bosa at the helm, the San Francisco 49ers finished the 2022 season crowned the NFL’s top defense, now adding one of the best defensive tackles from the free agent market on their roster, the team can easily hope for their repeated success in this position.
