The San Francisco 49ers have had some stumbles in building a quality offensive line. Part of that was due to head coach Kyle Shanahan’s team-building philosophy that prioritizes playmakers on offense over quality in the trenches.
As Shanahan sees it, the 49ers just need five NFL-caliber starting offensive linemen to have a great offense. To this point, he’s largely been correct with one small caveat. San Francisco’s two Super Bowl losses and one of their NFC championship game defeats came partly because the interior offensive line struggled.
Third-round pick Dominick Puni may be able to solve that very specific problem right away for San Francisco.
An injury to offensive linemen Spencer Buford and Jon Feliciano has rapidly opened the door for Puni to get reps with the 49ers’ starting offense. Early returns in two padded practices have been promising.
ESPN’s Nick Wagoner had the breakdown of Puni’s Tuesday practice on Twitter:
Too early to say whether Puni will win a starting job but one thing we can comfortably conclude: he handles his business like a veteran. Just never looks uncomfortable and has shown signs of understanding the little details like passing off blitzes and combo blocks in the run game like someone well beyond his years. A strong start.
The ‘too early to say’ caveat is an important one, but the fact Puni has hit the ground running is a great sign for the 49ers given some of their past experiences with first-year offensive linemen under Shanahan.
One example is 2021 second-round pick Aaron Banks, who got off to such a slow start that he wound up as a healthy scratch for seven of the team’s first eight games. He was active for their final nine contests and one of their three playoff games, but he played just five offensive snaps and they all came in the late stages of a 30-10 romp over Jacksonville.
Banks has since transformed his body and adapted to the 49ers’ scheme to become a high-quality starting left guard.
It sounds early on like Puni is skipping the first part of that and trending toward the quality starting guard part.
If Puni can take that leap in Year 1 where he steps in as an upgrade at right guard right away, it would solve a major problem that San Francisco has been trying to maneuver around for Shanahan’s entire tenure. Having a reliable player at that spot with Pro Bowl potential would not only shore up the one position, but it would make life easier on right tackle Colton McKivitz, while also stretching out the club’s depth along the interior by moving Feliciano and/or Burford into reserve roles.
The 49ers will need a handful of their other rookies to contribute in various ways this season. It would be a huge victory though if Puni steps onto the field and into a starting job right away.
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