As the San Francisco 49ers gear up for another season, we're taking a deep dive into every player on their 90-man offseason roster. Today's focus: defensive tackle CJ West, who enters Year 2 with plenty of promise and a clear roadmap for growth.
Selected 113th overall in the 2025 NFL Draft, West arrived in the league as an undersized prospect. At 317 pounds and hovering around 6'1", his arm length ranked in the seventh percentile—stats that made his eventual success something of an outlier story. But the 49ers saw potential, and they had the depth to let him develop.
Veterans Jordan Elliott and Kalia Davis provided a sturdy cushion, allowing the team to ease West (alongside Alfred Collins) into the lineup. West saw just seven snaps in Week 1, but his role grew steadily before a broken thumb sidelined him in late September, costing him Week 4.
By Week 5, West logged a season-high 27 snaps. But the path wasn't linear—he was a healthy scratch in Weeks 8 and 9. Those two games off proved to be a turning point. Upon returning, West never missed another game and by Week 11, he was outplaying the veterans, earning a new season-high of 34 snaps. He finished the regular season with 272 total snaps.
Here's where the numbers get interesting. Despite Elliott (436 snaps) and Davis (461) playing significantly more, West's production was remarkably efficient. He recorded 15 stops—just four fewer than Elliott's 19 and two behind Davis's 17. He matched Davis's pressure total and trailed Elliott by only three. Most impressively, West doubled Davis's quarterback hits with six, while Elliott finished with nine.
Now entering Year 2 of his rookie contract, West carries a base salary of $1.005 million in 2026 and a cap hit of $1.257 million—a bargain for a player showing this kind of upside.
During Super Bowl week, West sat down with NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco and laid out his goals: "Year 2, I mean, I need to have one of the biggest jumps I had in my football career. I'm just really bringing my game to the next level, being more dominant in the pass rush, dominating the run even more than I did, affecting the quarterback in different ways."
For a player who already flashed disruptive potential as a rookie, that kind of mindset is exactly what the 49ers—and fans looking for the next breakout star—want to hear. Whether you're tracking his progress on the field or just love the story of an underdog making his mark, CJ West is a name worth watching.