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The 49ers were aiming for continuity on their offensive line this offseason, and they got it outside of Mike McGlinchey’s exit in free agency. Despite the largely similar OL they’ll roll into 2023 with, Pro Football Focus dropped the club 11 spots in its OL rankings to No. 18 overall.
While it’s not entirely unfair to have some concerns about the 49ers’ offensive line, part of the reason they fell so far was because of a move that didn’t actually happen.
Here’s PFF’s Sam Monson on the 49ers’ OL:
If it wasn’t for Trent Williams, this line would be a concerning group on paper. It still may need to lean on Kyle Shanahan’s offense to put some gloss on its performances.
San Francisco’s line ranked fifth in PFF pass-blocking efficiency over the 2022 season but lost two starters in the offseason.
That first point is mostly fine. Shanahan is very good at working around adversity on the offensive line, and all four players along the front who aren’t Williams have to take a step forward in 2023.
The second point is wrong. PFF has Jon Feliciano listed as the 49ers’ starting center, indicating that last year’s starting center, Jake Brendel, is no longer with the team.
Brendel is very much with the team. He signed a four-year, $16.5 million deal with $5 million fully guaranteed. That’s not a contract for a backup center. He’s going to start again and Feliciano will likely be the do-everything reserve along the interior.
This isn’t to say that Brendel is an All-Pro caliber center who would dramatically change the team’s ranking, but it would surely help since PFF graded Brendel as about average overall and as a run blocker, while marking him as an above average pass blocker. Brendel in his first season as a full-time starter allowed 14 pressures and one sack in 680 pass blocking snaps.
Feliciano in 649 pass blocking snaps last year with the Giants allowed 25 pressures and four sacks, while grading out below average overall and in the run game.
Ultimately the 49ers have something to prove up front. Brendel, Aaron Banks and Spencer Burford all have to make strides forward after up-and-down 2022 campaigns from each. Burford will also assume a full-time role after rotating some with Daniel Brunskill last season. Then there’s Colton McKivitz at right tackle who figures to be a full-time starter for the first time in his career. He’s a significant question mark replacing McGlinchey who was San Francisco’s second-best OL last season.
It’s fair to rank this 49ers group in the middle of the pack given some of the question marks about the long-term viability of some of their starters, but to dock them for losing two starters is to dock them for something that didn’t actually happen.
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