The San Francisco 49ers signed another defensive lineman on Wednesday, bringing in veteran Sen’Derrick Marks on a one-year deal. The move comes as the team worked out three defensive lineman in recent days.
DeForest Buckner has been dealing with an ankle injury that cost him Saturday’s game against the Denver Broncos, but he is practicing in limited fashion on Wednesday. That makes the decision to sign Marks all the more curious, particularly given the seemingly solid depth on the line.
In his first media session with the beat writers, he commented on how he wakes and kicks ass. Cam Inman’s video above does not include that line, but has some relevant comments following it. Marks talked about how he’s been playing football for a while now, and it doesn’t really change. He talked about just needing to be prepared and do his thing.
Coming in halfway through the preseason would not normally be ideal, but he does have one advantage. Marks played for the Jaguars from 2013 to 2016. From 2014 to 2016, 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh was their linebackers coach. He likely did not work with Marks, but the defense Saleh is implementing is something with which Marks has some familiarity.
I look at that as meaning one of two things. The first is that he can plug in as a camp body to deal with potential injuries. He can play and be caught up enough to get some snaps this weekend. The second is that the 49ers are not as pleased with some of their depth as they would like, and they think he can potentially be depth as the team moves into the regular season. It seems more likely to be the former, but I guess we’ll see how the next eight days go with the 49ers final two preseason games.