Free-agent pass-rusher Elvis Dumervil, 33, is scheduled to have a workout with the 49ers, ESPN reported.
Dumervil, a five-time Pro Bowl selection who ranks seventh among active players in sacks (99), could help address a huge need: The 17 sacks he collected in 2014 are more than all but one member of the 49ers has had in their career. Linebacker Ahmad Brooks has 53.5 career sacks.
However, the 49ers are just starting a rebuilding project and Dumervil is old enough to have been a teammate of general manager John Lynch from 2005-06 in Denver.
In addition, Dumervil, who was released by the Ravens in March, has just nine sacks the past two seasons. Last year, he had three sacks and missed eight games after coming off surgery to repair a torn Achilles. He was scheduled to count $8.375 million against the salary cap.
The 49ers don’t have an obvious candidate to assume the so-called “Leo” defensive end position, which is reserved for the team’s best pass-rusher. Arik Armstead (6-foot-7, 292 pounds) is a leading candidate, but he’s bigger than a typical Leo. Dumervil is listed at 5-11 and 250 pounds.
“He moves well,” defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said of Armstead on Wednesday. “The concern was that he’s so big and he doesn’t exactly fit the prototype, but he’s so athletic. He’s so long and he’s got a good first step. He just needs to get more comfortable in the things that we’re asking him to do physically.”
The 49ers didn’t sign a player with more than nine career sacks in free agency, and they didn’t draft a legitimate Leo candidate until the sixth round when they selected Utah’s Pita Taumoepenu.
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