The 49ers’ leaned heavily on their offensive line depth last season, and now that unit will once again be among the deepest on the entire roster.
In 2019, reserves Justin Skule, Daniel Brunskill and Ben Garland started a combined 18 games at both tackle spots, right guard and center. There will be also be some changes up front after veteran left tackle Joe Staley announced his retirement and right guard Mike Person was released this offseason.
The addition of former Washington left tackle Trent Williams should solidify the left side of the line, but there are still some battles to play out among the reserves and at the starting right guard spot.
We switched up our depth chart projection style some for this group since so many players are vying for different spots. Ordering them numerically makes less sense than grouping them together. Here’s our projection for the offensive line heading into camp:
LT Trent Williams
The 49ers swung a trade on Day 3 of the draft to land Williams shortly before six-time Pro Bowler Joe Staley announced his retirement. Fetching Williams was perhaps San Francisco’s best move of the offseason. He’s a seven-time Pro Bowler who missed last season due to a holdout, and then a stint on the Non-Football Injury List after he had a cancerous growth removed from his head. He hasn’t played since 2018, so there are some questions about whether he’ll return to Pro Bowl form. Still, he’s the team’s best option at left tackle and is one of the league’s best players at the position when healthy.