By: Dianna Russini, Matt Barrows and David Lombardi
The San Francisco 49ers are shuffling around their interior defensive front, trading for Houston Texans defensive tackle Maliek Collins, according to league sources. The Texans will receive a 2024 seventh-round pick in exchange for Collins. The seventh-rounder is pick No. 232, which came to the 49ers from the Denver Broncos as part of last season’s Randy Gregory trade.
The news comes after defensive lineman Javon Kinlaw agreed to terms with the New York Jets. It also points to the 49ers letting go of veteran Arik Armstead.
Collins, who turns 29 in April, has been a consistent starter for the Texans for the past few seasons. He picked up five sacks in 16 games last season in Houston. He started his career as a 2016 third-round pick by the Dallas Cowboys, spending four seasons there. Collins played for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020 before playing for the Texans the past three seasons.
The eight-year veteran has amassed 25 sacks, 206 total tackles and six fumble recoveries in his career.
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Why trading for Collins makes sense for 49ers
With Armstead likely headed out of town, the 49ers needed to add a starter at defensive tackle. They found that in Collins, someone who’s started 46 games for the Texans in the last three seasons and has 11 sacks over that span. Is he as good as Armstead, the 49ers’ longest-tenured player and the leader of their defensive line? Probably not. Armstead, for example, had 58 quarterback pressures in 15 games this past season — 16 of them while playing on torn knee meniscus in the playoffs. Collins had 46 pressures in 18 games. Still, Collins is a little younger (28 vs. 30 for Armstead), likely will be a little cheaper and should hit the ground running in San Francisco after playing in a similar system last year for the Texans. — Matt Barrows, 49ers senior writer
Where Collins fits on 49ers’ D-line
With Collins on board, the 49ers’ starting defensive line likely will look like this: Nick Bosa and Leonard Floyd at defensive end and Collins and Javon Hargrave at defensive tackle. It’s a lineup that ought to bring more pass-rush firepower than the 2023 version, largely because of Floyd’s arrival. The 49ers have struggled to find a steady bookend to Bosa since 2019. Last year, for example, the 49ers’ defensive end with the second most sacks was Clelin Ferrell, who finished with 3 1/2. Floyd, meanwhile, has had at least nine sacks in each of the last four seasons.
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The 49ers like to keep 10 defensive linemen on the 53-man roster and dress eight on game days. The second-string unit is shaping up to be Yetur Gross-Matos and either Drake Jackson or Robert Beal Jr. at defensive end with newcomer Jordan Elliott and Kalia Davis at defensive tackle. Gross-Matos also can rush from the inside on obvious passing downs. — Barrows
How move for Collins impacts 49ers’ cap
Assuming this is a clean transfer of contract to San Francisco, the 49ers will take on Collins’ $8 million of base salary, $6 million of which is fully guaranteed. He can also earn up to $500,000 in per-game roster bonus money. Because Collins played in 16 of 17 possible games last season, that should add up to a 2024 salary-cap hit of $8.47 million on the 49ers’ books. Collins is under contract through 2025.
That $8.47 million number is significant because it might land in the ballpark of the pay cut that the 49ers wanted defensive tackle Armstead to take from his existing $17.4 million salary. The 49ers have wanted to become more cost-efficient at the defensive tackle position, and this move certainly does that — even if Collins isn’t quite as productive as Armstead was in his healthy prime.
The 49ers have also added former Cleveland Browns defensive tackle Jordan Elliott this week. It appears that Collins is set to take Armstead’s former starting role and Elliott is primed to grab Javon Kinlaw’s rotational job. Kinlaw signed with the New York Jets. — David Lombardi, 49ers staff writer
Required reading
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(Photo: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)
