LAS VEGAS — Nick Bosa usually talks to the local media once a week and the sessions rarely last more than a few minutes, although he’s often amenable to a private query or two.
In the days leading up to Super Bowl LVIII Sunday at Allegiant Stadium, the 49ers’ edge rusher had four press conferences in four days, each lasting 45 minutes or longer. It’s a different Bosa from the one who was a rookie still making his way as a communicator the last time the 49ers were on this stage.
“I kind of forget how I was as a rookie,” Bosa said Thursday during the 49ers’ final press session before facing the Kansas City Chiefs with a championship on the line. “You kind of just grow up. You’re 21 when you come in. Now I’m 26 and I have more to say. I’ve got more life experience and I’m pretty honest. And I know how to avoid controversy for the most part.”
Bosa is economical with his words and has a deliberate delivery that borders on deadpan.
Asked on NFL Opening Night who was his favorite quarterback to sack, Bosa paused, gave a half-smile to the questioner and answered “The next one.”
His in-game comments when mic’d up are a fixture for NFL Films, including one that went viral in 2022 when Warner gave a fire-and-brimstone pregame talk which was followed by Bosa shrugging his shoulders and remarking, “Can’t agree more.”
Nick Bosa’s deadpan humor: criminally underrated @nbsmallerbear | @49ers pic.twitter.com/ciNhzFn6gg
— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) November 16, 2022
Forty-Niners writers thought enough of Bosa’s cooperation that he was voted the Garry Niver Award, given to the player who shows the most cooperative professional style in allowing the media to do its job.
The 49ers are not only a team of stars on the field, but are pretty adept at the microphone. George Kittle, Fred Warner, Christian McCaffrey and Trent Williams can talk a good game as well as play one. Brock Purdy is remarkably honest and transparent for a 24-year-old quarterback.
Bosa has become a low-key leader in his own right for reasons that go beyond the obvious — the 49ers signed him to a $170 million contract extension with $122.5 million guaranteed to wreak havoc on the defensive front.
With great income comes great responsibility, and Bosa embraces it in every area. Probably the only 49er who is as obsessive in his training regimen is McCaffrey. Every weight lifted, every forkful of food and every rehab (and pre-hab) routine is calculated to make his body perform.
Bosa is serious and precise when it comes to rushing the passer and he doesn’t need to do a lot of talking to impress his teammates on that front.
“He’s got a very dedicated routine to his craft,” defensive end Randy Gregory said. “I always talk to D-linemen about how efficient he is. The steps he takes. Everything is real deliberate. He’s a technician and works all day. The talent, the production, the preparation all match.”
But when Bosa does talk, the 49ers are listening as closely as the reporters with their notebooks and recorders.
According to guard Jon Feliciano, Bosa’s dry wit often leaves teammates with a smile on their faces even as he’s imparting potentially valuable information.
“He talks funny, but he is a super well-read guy and he has a lot of wisdom,” Feliciano said. “When he talks to us he can be so sincere and it’s been great being his teammate.”
Bosa is a voracious reader — he prefers books to tablets because he likes to turn the pages — and this week told reporters how much he loved reading history.
“I get motivation about reading about the Founding Fathers and just how much they accomplished and at such young ages in their life and how hardened they were from life experience at such young ages,” Bosa said.
Last season, coach Kyle Shanahan called upon Bosa to talk to the team the Saturday before a game. The 49ers won, so it became a regular event. Bosa takes that seriously too, and in keeping with his personality, it’s low-key and thought-provoking.
Bosa gathers material for Saturdays in talks with Shanahan and teammates, adding his own touches. Something on his current reading list occasionally makes its way into what he considers more a conversation than a speech.
Nick Bosa has grown to be a popular interview and personality as well as a dominating edge rusher for the 49ers. Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group
“It’s not like I’m going up and inciting a crazy, motivational rah-rah speech,” Bosa said. “It’s pretty just talking and that’s how I show my leadership.”
Defensive line coach Kris Kocurek has been Bosa’s position coach since he was drafted and saw him emerge from his rookie shell gradually during the course of the 2019 season. The talks have enhanced Bosa’s stature as a leader.
“He’ll put his spin on it as a player, and it’s definitely taken on a life of its own as time’s progressed,” Kocurek said. “It seems like it’s always right on point, right what we need to hear at the moment. He doesn’t take it lightly. You can tell it’s a thought-out process for him. He’s not up there just winging it by any stretch of the imagination.”
The 49ers, of course, aren’t paying Bosa to talk. His $34 million annual salary is to ruin blocking schemes and wreck opposing offenses. Bosa didn’t sign until the Wednesday before the regular season and got off to a slow start in terms of sacks but ended up with 10 1/2 and was among the league leaders in pressures and quarterback hits.
In terms of getting better, Bosa at 6-foot-4, 266 pounds has done most of the heavy lifting.
“The dude is a walking tank,” Feliciano said. “And the way he takes care of his body, the extra stuff you see him doing, it’s no surprise he’s doing what he does.”
Bosa believes there is room for improvement even if there aren’t many gains to be made physically.
“I think there are big jumps I can make, though honestly, I think I’ve built up my body and my physical ability almost to its peak,” Bosa said. “Now it’s just refining all the football moves. They’re little things but they’ll show up big on the field.
Kocurek said Bosa had his best season in terms of setting an edge and defending the run, and Bosa agreed.
“I was trying to learn on the run, missing camp, but I think I’ve played the run probably the best in my career,” Bosa said. “As far as the pass rush, I don’t think I had my best year but I think I’ve learned a lot even in the past couple of games that I’m continuing to apply and I think I’m going to continue to improve.”
Bosa had two sacks in the NFC Championship Game win over the Detroit Lions and had nine pressures in two playoff games. One of the surest ways for the 49ers to win it all is for Bosa to make a game-changing play or plays. A defensive player has been named Most Valuable Player of the Super Bowl in eight seasons; the last was Denver’s Von Miller in a win over Carolina in Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium.
(Dallas defensive linemen Randy White and Harvey Martin shared the award in Super Bowl XII.)
Before the 49ers took the field to face the Lions, Bosa snuck a peek at the score in the AFC title game between the Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens and liked what he saw.
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“I was happy. I wanted to play them,” Bosa said. “Not that I’m saying they were the weaker opponent, but they beat us in the Super Bowl so it would be good to have another crack at it.”
As a rookie after Super Bowl LIV in Miami, Bosa, with tears in his eyes, wasn’t in a talking mood.
“I’m not a guy that is usually crying on the sideline and that kind of surprised me,” Bosa said. “So it just shows how much it means and we definitely do not want to be there again.”
