Nick Bosa flashing early on in San Francisco 49ers camp

The San Francisco 49ers have a difference maker on their hands in second overall pick Nick Bosa, who is flashing early in training camp.

After avoiding any sort of holdout and getting their top rookie in the fold with a four-year contract, the San Francisco 49ers wasted no time unleashing Nick Bosa in practice.

Bosa was hurt much of last year for Ohio State, so it’s been a while since we’ve truly been able to appreciate how good he is, though we saw enough of it over the course of his career to know he was a worthy top five NFL Draft selection.

Bosa, like his brother Joey, has an excellent combination of quickness, power, and a very well-rounded pass rush arsenal overall. Where Nick sets himself apart, if even by the slightest of margins, is coming off the ball.

Here’s Bosa working on timing the snap count with fellow former top three draft choice Solomon Thomas at 49ers camp.

Bosa has not just been showing out on the sled, though. He’s beating the 49ers’ longest tenured lineman and one of the best tackles in the league, Joe Staley.

With regularity.

According to Staley himself, Bosa got past the veteran tackle three times in one practice during 11-on-11 team period.

The 49ers desperately need Bosa to be an instant impact type of player. They were not good defensively last year by any stretch, although injuries had a large role in that.

The 49ers ranked 28th in points allowed and were dead last in the NFL last year with just seven takeaways. It’s no wonder they had the second overall pick in the NFL Draft. There are some individual players with more than seven takeaways.

Heck, one of the players the 49ers ponied up some draft capital for this offseason — Dee Ford — forced seven fumbles last year for the Chiefs, who had a poor defense overall.

Bosa is another player who can help with that, not just because he’s going to hit the quarterback and cause fumbles, but he’s also going to be able to rush throws and allow the 49ers’ defensive backs to make breaks on the ball and pick off passes.

The all-around impact of Bosa’s presence off that right end spot is already being felt in 49ers practices. They can’t wait to unleash him on other teams and see what kind of domino effect it has on the rest of the team.