Four members of the San Francisco 49ers are currently in Hawaii training with Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman Michael Bennett. DeForest Buckner is from Hawaii, and he is joined by Arik Armstead, Eli Harold, and Ronald Blair. This is the second straight year Bennett has hosted players for July workouts in Hawaii.
On Saturday, Armstead posted a picture of the group on Instagram.
The most interesting thing about this is Armstead’s size. He remains a big guy, but as was reported by Jennifer Chan and the beat writers during the offseason workout program, the picture shows what appears to be a slightly slimmed down version of him.
In his role as a 3-4 defensive end and nickel defensive tackle, the 6’7 Armstead weighed in around 290 pounds. This offseason, he will continue to play nickel defensive tackle, but he is also working into the LEO edge rusher role in the base defense. I’ve never been particularly good at assessing weight, but he looks considerably slimmer than DeForest Buckner. At the Combine, the also 6’7 Buckner weighed in at 291 pounds, and 49ers.com lists him at 300 pounds. They could very well carry their weight considerably different, and we don’t know how much heavier muscle Armstead is carrying. And yet, he looks like he is down closer to the 280 range at this point.
The 49ers will conduct physicals for all players when they arrive at training camp. That will be followed by media availability, and I have to think Armstead will get some questions about what he is weighing. He has seemed a little too big for the traditional LEO role, but maybe a slightly slimmed down version brings a little extra versatility to the line.