Nick Bosa returns to practice why he just might be 49ers X-factor

SANTA CLARA — Fred Warner, check.Christian McCaffrey, check.

George Kittle, check.And, at last, the 49ers can put a checkmark next to Nick Bosa’s name.The All-Pro pass rusher who hadn’t played since last September became the last of the Niners’ injured stars to return to practice Wednesday, just in the nick of time for the team’s 8,000-mile flight to Melbourne, Australia, that was scheduled to depart Wednesday night.That’s where the 49ers will open their season against the Rams a week from Thursday, and while nothing’s been finalized, it sure sounded like Bosa plans on playing — 11 months removed from the second surgery he’s had to repair the ACL in his right knee.Bosa was asked directly about his status for Week 1 and said, “after today, yeah, pretty good.”That would be a huge development for the 49ers.And a huge responsibility.Out of all the 49ers’ big names coming back from injuries this camp — heck, throw Kyle Shanahan in there, too — Bosa isn’t the loudest (Warner, Kittle) or most important (McCaffrey).But he just might be the most irreplaceable.Call Bosa the 49ers’ X-factor.We all saw the organization’s well-oiled machine in action while Shanahan was limited earlier in camp after his car crash.

McCaffrey can dominate a game like few others, and if Warner isn’t the team’s spiritual leader, it’s Kittle.But they all play relative positions of strength on this roster.On the flip side, take a look at this chart and see if anything sticks out:That’s how the 49ers stacked up against the rest of the NFL in quarterback sacks since they drafted Bosa second overall in 2019.

Every season Bosa has missed fewer than two games, the Niners have ranked inside the top 10.In other words, when Bosa’s healthy, so is the 49ers’ pass rush.Whatever pressure the Niners’ could put on opposing quarterbacks evaporated after Bosa went down in Week 3 last year.The losses of Warner and first-round edge rusher Mykel Williams, who remains o...