Despite the frustrated comments he made after his limited playing time against the Indianapolis Colts and the expected return of Reuben Foster, NaVorro Bowman will start against the Washington Redskins on Sunday.
Nonetheless, Robert Saleh plans to use Bowman in the same way he did against the Colts, shortening his time on the field to keep him fresh throughout the game. As was the case after the game last Sunday, Saleh understands and anticipates Bowman to disagree with his decision.
“I would expect Bowman to be the most angry human being in the entire world,” Saleh said. “I would expect nothing else. I would expect him to fight tooth and nail to come off the field and I would expect him to fight tooth and nail to get back on the field. That’s why Bowman is a special football player. That’s why he’s been fantastic his entire career.”
After making only five tackles against the Colts, Bowman was rotated out along with the rest of the defensive line. For a player who is accustomed to a full workload, Bowman was displeased with his limited usage in Indianapolis.
“We’d like to give NaVorro a break here and there. The plan going in, we felt like we had a good plan with NaVorro,” Saleh said. “The one series to give him a quick breather in the first half, quick series in the second half, that was the plan going in so we could have him for those crunch time moments because he is a vital part of this defense. That was the plan and we’d like to continue that.”
Regardless, Saleh sees the merit in rotating the defense and giving Bowman time on the sideline. Thanks to playing two back-to-back overtime losses, the 49ers’ defense leads the NFL in minutes played per game.
That being said, Saleh’s reasoning behind switching up the defense is to keep his defensive front, Bowman included, fresh throughout the game.
“I completely understand where NaVorro is coming from,” Saleh said. “It is not uncomfortable, because in the end we’re all men, we’re all professions, and we all have a job to do. At the end of the day, there’s no doubt that Bowman will perform at a great level, and all of them, the D-Line included, they’ll all perform at a great level if we can get their snap counts down.”