{"id":283451,"date":"2025-08-13T00:10:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T00:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/283451\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T00:10:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T00:10:11","slug":"kalia-davis-steps-up-with-good-camp-after-49ers-departures-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/283451\/","title":{"rendered":"Kalia Davis steps up with \u2018good camp\u2019 after 49ers\u2019 departures \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following the offseason departures of some key defensive linemen, the 49ers are set to rely on several unproven players in the upcoming NFL season — particularly on the interior<\/a>.<\/p>\n

San Francisco released veteran defensive tackles Javon Hargrave<\/a> and Maliek Collins,<\/a> while the team selected Alfred Collins and CJ West in the 2025 NFL Draft to fill the hole at that position.<\/p>\n

While most of the outside attention has been directed towards those rookies, another defensive tackle, third-year player Kalia Davis<\/a>, quietly is making a strong case to take on a larger role within Robert Saleh’s defense.<\/p>\n

After Tuesday’s training camp practice<\/a>, Davis was asked about his reaction to those offseason losses and if it motivated him to take advantage of the resulting opportunity.<\/p>\n

“Most definitely,” Davis told reporters.<\/a> “When I saw that, I was just, you know, I got to take a bigger step than what I initially was going to take. I wanted to just get better every day I take the field.”<\/p>\n

Davis recorded three tackles, including a sack, during Saturday’s preseason opener against the Denver Broncos, continuing what has been a “good camp,” said the 26-year-old.<\/p>\n

What has made this a good training camp for Davis, you ask?<\/p>\n

“For me, it’s just taking the field with my guys every day,” he explained. “I’m really still a young defensive lineman — I started playing D-line in 2019. I started at D-end, then I moved to D-tackle later on that year. So, I’ve actually played D-tackle longer in the NFL than I have in the rest of my life. <\/p>\n

“So it’s just being able to take the field and get the experience that I can get. Staying healthy is huge for me. That’s why I’m saying I’m having a good camp.”<\/p>\n

It might be hard to believe now, looking at Davis’ massive 310-pound frame, but he was an inside linebacker until converting to a lineman as a redshirt sophomore at UCF.<\/p>\n

Even now, Davis only has 18 games of college experience and 16 regular-season games of NFL experience at defensive line. So, it’s possible the former sixth-round pick in 2022 still has plenty of potential left before he reaches his ceiling.<\/p>\n

And given the 49ers’ crucial need for production at defensive tackle, a significant jump in production from Davis could be a massive boost for San Francisco’s playoff hopes this season.<\/p>\n

Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following the offseason departures of some key defensive linemen, the 49ers are set to rely on several unproven…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,7,13330,6,1161,252,2624,2623],"class_list":{"0":"post-283451","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-kalia-davis","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-san-francisco","13":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","14":"tag-sanfrancisco","15":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115018558804786643","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}