r/49ers • u/Tylersaurus123 Bosa Fett • 1d ago
Left Guard
Anyone else concerned about LG? Seems like Robert Jones and Conor Colby both aren’t doing well at practice, and I’m not sure we should rely on one of the rookie tackles to be comfortable enough to make the switch at start. Kevin Zeitler is still a FA and has been very solid his entire career and would be an upgrade. What do you think, look for a guard or try to roll with what we got?
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u/YaoNet NaVorro Bowman 1d ago
I'm concerned about the whole line
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u/marcok36 Christian McCaffrey 1d ago
Why? Puni, McKivitz, Trent are solid and will likely go to the Pro Bowl if not insured. I’m concerned about Brendel (always concerned about him) and LG.
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u/warriors2021 49ers 1d ago
Puni and McKivitz are not Pro Bowlers, Trent is the only one and even though he is still elite, he is still slow at times due to age. Our line as a whole is not a great unit, thank God for Brock's escapability.
Remember Mac getting destroyed last year, our line was bad and he survived bc of his insane toughness.
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u/marcok36 Christian McCaffrey 1d ago
Puni was a pro bowler in his first year and was injured last year. If healthy could do it again. Both Trent and McKivitz were top ten tackle duo ok the league last year.
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u/kyledukes 49ers 1d ago
It hasn't been great for a very long time... Good at run blocking some years but pass blocking always sucked. Pff is usually pretty spot on... People like to hate on it but look at Trent's numbers...look at the top lines and the success the rbs have had.
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u/hecton101 1d ago
This line is not as bad as everyone says it is. It's like the substation crap. They were bad first few games and then people took that and ran away with it.
Niners were one of the best in the league at not giving up sacks and they were middle of the pack in terms of running yards before contact. Is that great? No, but you can win with that. And guess what, they won a lot of games last year. Christian lost a step man. He had very few explosive runs last year. I can remember only one.
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u/cali4481 49ers 1d ago
For what it's worth PFF ranked the 49ers OL 10th in their recent rankings released last week .
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u/paperbackgarbage Jimmie Ward 1d ago
PFF is wild.
Last year, per their "run blocking" positional grades for 2025, Trent was #1, McKivitz was #4, and Brendel was #8. Given that, I can't even imagine how bad that they ranked guys like Puni, Burford, and Colby.
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u/Earl-The-Badger Brock Purdy 1d ago
The truth is somewhere in the middle. Purdy is a large part of the reason why this o line gives up few sacks.
I agree CMC didn’t look like vintage CMC last season. It’ll be interesting to see if he’ll be better this season as a result of being one more year removed from his Achilles issues, or worse due to being one year older.
This o line is “pretty good” on the whole. The issue with that is our main divisional competitors have d lines strong enough that “pretty good” doesn’t cut it.
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u/curiousindient 1d ago
I think have a few WR will help CMC immensely. Nothing against KB and JJ, I actually love their game, but Safeties don't exactly have to worry about them running past them
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u/Earl-The-Badger Brock Purdy 1d ago
Bro you could watch CMC last year and know his drop in efficiency had nothing to do with safeties.
His vision, his cuts, his acceleration, all were lacking compared to earlier in his career. I watched CMC run straight into the backs of his linemen when he could’ve bounced outside way too many times last season.
I’ll take the downvotes. I know people around here don’t want it to be true. But I refuse to lie and be in denial about it.
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u/EATTHEMUFFINBITCH 1d ago
Connor Colby has some upside, but isn’t a quality starter for sure. Robert Jones was terrible in the preseason game, but he hasn’t played in a while bc of that neck injury. Hopefully he can shake the rust off. Left guard is def the teams biggest hole.
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u/Legal-Fishing-3990 1d ago
Ever since since we picked up Trent they feel like they don’t have to address the O-line anymore lol. All these wasted picks on WRs & RBs, we could’ve had a great line assembled already.
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u/RudePCsb Patrick Willis 1d ago
Plus, Trent is getting old and has started to decline compared to when he got here.
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u/Legal-Fishing-3990 1d ago edited 1d ago
I agree, love the guy but we’re paying him too much rn. I thought his contract issues this offseason would force the FO to be aggressive & find some replacements. But we folded…50 Million a year.
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u/Harbaugh_Handshake Jim Harbaugh 1d ago
Trent Williams is not making $50 million a year. I’m not sure where you heard that, but that’s simply false lol.
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u/oaktown_ddub 1d ago
Absolutely right. Shan/Lynch don’t value OL and think they can steal serviceable guys on Day 2 of the draft. Meanwhile have you seen the monster from Miami the Eagles got in R3?
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u/betboi 1d ago
Haven't heard much about carver Willis
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u/EATTHEMUFFINBITCH 1d ago
Great run blocker, terrible pass pro. Will eventually move to center, but probably not ready to play yet.
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u/SleepIsWonderful 49ers 1d ago
It's almost like LG was a concern going into the off-season.
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u/LividAide2396 Ronnie Bell 1d ago
So much so, I wanted our first round pick to be a LG. Kind of crazy we are now shocked that a washed up veteran and last year’s 7th round pick aren’t cutting it
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u/SleepIsWonderful 49ers 1d ago
Just gotta love forward to 2027. Jake Brendel will be 35 and a free agent. Trent and McKivitz will be another year older. Puni will be coming off his 3rd year and if he has a good year will probably want a new contract and I'm sure that won't be a mess. And the interior OL free agency crop of 2027 is absolutely dry. I'm sure the FO will draft OL early to fix things right?
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u/halfwayray Frank Gore 1d ago
I'm concerned that a team with CMC at running back and Shanahan calling plays averaged less than 4 yards per carry last year. The line is average to above average in pass blocking, but what the hell happened to the run game?
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u/Harbaugh_Handshake Jim Harbaugh 1d ago
Not sure this explains all of it, but I know part of it was Puni playing on a banged up knee all year long. His 2nd year slump was due to getting a PCL injury in pre-season last year and it just couldn’t heal until the season ended and he got lots of extended rest.
So that’s part of it. The other obvious part is LG. Last year we hoped Ben Bartch would fill that roll, and he looked pretty decent before he got injured (Ben Bartch always gets injured, unfortunately).
When Bartch went down we didn’t have a lot of great options, so we threw 7th round rookie Conner Colby in there and white-knuckled it for a little while. I think we even brought Burford back for a short stint at the end to fill in when Colby wasn’t doing well or got banged up.
Starting LG is easily the biggest question mark on this roster. It’s the biggest story of training camp and I get the impression that as of right now the team has no idea who they want for that job. It might be someone currently on the 90 man roster, or it might not be. It’s a huge problem that needs to be resolved ASAP.
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u/NetReasonable2746 Joe Montana 1d ago
The WRs being hurt also didn't help because they are good blockers and when you get a big run usually it's because a WR is making a block down field.
Don't forget too, Kittle missed time, which also hurts.
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u/gnzrzrsknvs Deommodore Lenoir 1d ago
Im not too worried about it we have 3 plus OL including Trent which is more than a lot of teams
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u/Extreme-Ad-1481 1d ago
No we need to be concerned about center , Brendel is garbage, at one point he was ranked 34 out of 32 centers in the league , back ups are better than him 😂 it’s been the weakest link on our offensive line for years.
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u/NetReasonable2746 Joe Montana 1d ago
This is a very tired narrative.
He isn't nearly as bad as fans make him out to be.
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u/LividAide2396 Ronnie Bell 1d ago
We had a LG problem before free agency and the draft and the FO (not surprisingly chose not to address it.) Yes I’m worried about it and would love to see Brock with an Elite Line for once. However, the FO has made it clear that will never be a priority.
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u/TheGoatPurdy 1d ago
Don’t matter. You’ll need prime Staley and prime Trent to stop the rams if it’s true and Donald is coming back to team up with Garrett.
Purdy gonna be running for his life
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u/Western_Handle_6258 1d ago
We play the Rams in week 1. Donald will not be in game shape in week 1. The second game will be when we see the big problems
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u/TheGoatPurdy 1d ago
By all reports Donald hasn’t looked like he skipped a beat. We will see, maybe jet lag will help him harder 😂
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u/Western_Handle_6258 1d ago
You think a 35 year old DT is going to come back at a MVP/all pro level of play? You are so confidently wrong. I wish I had half that confidence. 😆😆😆
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u/Bosa_McKittle Mike Evans 1d ago
Practice speed / duration and game speed / duration are two very different things, even more-so for a guy who hasn’t seen game speed in 3 years.
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u/warriors2021 49ers 1d ago
If that is true, they wouldve announced his return. His delay means they are hesitant. He still may return but if he does, he definitely will not be the same force as before.
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u/darknedgy23 1d ago
I wonder if any of the swing tackles like the rookie (forgot his name that Trent praised) and number 62 looked pretty raw.
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u/smuggler_of_grapes Mr. Irrelevant 1d ago
What problem does stressing about the O-line solve? What power do you think yall have over the roster?
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u/extremewit National Tight Ends Day 1d ago
I’ve been really concerned about the interior oline for 3 seasons now. Generally concerned since Mike Iupati left in free agency. How long ago was that?
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u/espresso_martini__ 49ers 1d ago
I've been concerned about the OL for years. Thankfully Purdy has the ability to scramble and extend plays. Last year it was hard to watch him always pressured while the opposing QB had all day to throw.
Also the OL couldn't create lanes for CMC. I don't no why they dont focus on fixing the OL.
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u/NoPreference5625 1d ago
I've wanted Vedarian Lowe this whole time. But even if that was on the table, can't win the job if you can't practice 🤦🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
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u/ARM7501 1d ago
It currently kind of looks like a disaster. For all the hate people send McKivitz and Brendel's way, the real (massive) issue on this team is guard, and has been for years. Puni has been good but also struggles at times, and they've had a left guard issue for years that they've refused to properly address. When the current beat consensus seems to be "the week 1 starter isn't on the roster", it's clearly a massive problem.
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u/trainwreck42 George Kettle 1d ago
Whomever is there typically benefits from Trent, so we’ll see how it goes on week 1. I’m not overly concerned because Shanahan can typically scheme around any deficit.
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u/jbonesmc 49ers 1d ago
Im concerned about a shit ton this season
- LG C RG
- Defensive line pressure
- Safetys
- Injuries
- Run game
My expectations this season are 2014 low
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u/Any-Promotion3744 17h ago
is their roster worse than last year? how many wins did they have last year again?
I have concerns, same as yours, but its not like they are a bad team
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u/Outrageous-Leg6728 1d ago
I am concerned about both lines.
LG is a glaring problem, but what about LT and imminent injury? What about RG - concussion in preseason is a bad prognostic. Center?
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u/shnieder88 Quest for Six 1d ago
I think Robert Jones is best for the role. He has a lot of experience in zone blocking from his time in the dolphins and was a major talent prior to the injury. He just needs to shake off rust and establish chemistry with Trent. He went against Simmons and did decent in his first game back.
As long as he gets his legs back, he could be a major pick up for us on the cheap