One of the 49ers’ key roster battles in training camp will happen on the interior of the offensive line. Right guard Mike Person was released in the offseason with no clear favorite to replace him. The hole on the offensive line has a few candidates to fill it, but right tackle Mike McGlinchey gave some early insight on who’s been getting reps in next to him as on-field practices get underway.
“It’s been a rotation between Dan Brunskill and Tom Compton,” McGlinchey said Monday in a video conference with 49ers reporters.
Brunskill filled in last year at right guard when Person missed a pair of games with a neck injury. He was the leading candidate going into the offseason to replace Person. Brunskill also offers a lot of versatility and plays virtually every spot on the offensive line.
The 49ers signed Compton shortly after releasing Person, putting him in the mix to battle with Brunskill for the starting job. Compton is more experienced with eight NFL seasons, 99 games and 34 starts under his belt. He also spent the first two years of his career in Kyle Shanahan’s offense in Washington.
It’s not a surprise that those two are the ones getting the first-team reps in the early portion of the 49ers’ training camp. A couple other candidates for the job include Ben Garland and rookie fifth-round pick Colton McKivitz. It remains to be seen whether either player will get a shot to push their way into the conversation though. Garland is filling in at center while Weston Richburg recovers from a knee injury, and McKivitz is a rookie seeing his first NFL action.
The Brunskill-Compton rotation and whether another player works their way in could wind up being one of the most interesting aspects of training camp in Santa Clara.