The 49ers own the NFL’s best roster. As a result of that they’re typically well-represented in various top-10 player rankings at each position. There’s a very clear weak spot on their roster though, and that’s reflected in their lack of even a mention in the ESPN top-10 interior offensive lineman rankings.
It wasn’t a huge surprise that zero 49ers were in the top 10 of interior linemen. They don’t invest heavily in that spot and while the play from that group has typically been okay, it hasn’t been Earth-shattering.
However, none of Aaron Banks, Jake Brendel, Jon Feliciano nor Spencer Burford were an honorable mention, and none of that quartet even received votes in a poll of league executives, scouts and coaches.
It’s not that it’s unfair or wrong that the 49ers didn’t have a player mentioned in ESPN’s write-up. It does underscore where the weakness lies with San Francisco’s roster.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan has done an outstanding job of putting together an offense that allows his interior linemen to have success, particularly in the run game. That group is typically good enough throughout the course of a 17-game season. They’re even fine against early playoff foes.
Where the 49ers get hung up, and the reason that group needs to improve, is in big moments against the NFL’s top interior defensive linemen. Whether it was Aaron Donald or Chris Jones, San Francisco has seen their offense wrecked in big moments by interior defensive linemen multiple times.
For now the 49ers interior offensive line is okay, although the hope is that third-round pick Dominick Puni will be an upgrade at right guard. They do need to be able to win more matchups when game-planning goes out the window and they just need to win a rep. If they start doing that with more frequency, we may see the interior OL start to catch up to the rest of the roster.
