Thomas isn’t a scheme fit for 49ers One of the more disappointing players for the San Francisco 49ers has been defensive lineman Solomon Thomas. Drafted with the third overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft Nick Mullens 49ers Jersey , Thomas has been solid at stopping the run but sub-par in his pass-rushing abilities. Thomas is by no means a bust, but he’s definitely not reached the high expectations set for a third overall pick. Former 49ers safety Donte Whitner was on KNBR’s Gary & Larry Podcast and had his own assessment to Thomas’ struggles—it’s not a schematic fit: The 49ers have been plugging Thomas all over the place it seems like and none of it has yielded anything more than good run stops. The 49ers experimented with putting him on the edge on run downs and kicking him inside on pass-rush downs (which was the plan for his senior year at Stanford until he declared for the 2017 NFL Draft). Thomas has had a difficulty getting to the quarterback, and it feels like something is off. On Friday, defensive coordinator Robert Saleh was asked for his evaluation of Thomas at this point. Specifically, he was asked what went into deciding where he played along the line given some of his success inside.There’s still a lot of football to play until 2018 ends and the 49ers can take a look at themselves schematically, but until then Quarterback Nick Mullens Jersey , I’ll just leave this here:Robert Saleh discusses 49ers tackling woes The San Francisco 49ers currently lead the NFL in missed tackles. Fred Warner and Reuben Foster had a combined ten missed tackles on Sunday, and while big plays were a problem as well, the missed tackles have been the biggest problem to date.Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh met with the media on Thursday, and got a chance to address the tackling issues. He sees a problem in execution, but also something that the coaches need to do a better job communicating what they want.Working on basic fundamentals during the NFL season is not an easy task. The players are busy learning and installing their weekly game-plan, while doing extensive film work in preparation. The team has a padded practice during the week where they have a tackling circuit Rookie Nick Mullens Jersey , and Saleh said this week they introduced the circuit into a non-padded practice.Will we see any changes this Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers? I wish I could say yes, but it’s impossible to know. We’ve broken down the film, and now heard from the defensive coordinator. The 49ers defense has shown at times that it can shut things down. We saw it for much of the second half against the Kansas City Chiefs. We need to see this more consistently, especially with growing concerns about the offense with Jimmy Garoppolo’s torn ACL.