During an interview on "The Damon Bruce Show" on 95.7 The Game Thursday night, San Francisco 49ers tackle Joe Staley was asked to name the players who would make up his all-star offensive line. The one caveat was that he could not name himself or any of his teammates to the offensive line.
Staley's "best offensive line in football" consisted of the players below.
Left tackle: Tyron Smith of the Dallas Cowboys
Left guard: Kelechi Osemele of the Oakland Raiders
Center: Alex Mack of the Atlanta Falcons
Right guard: Marshal Yanda of the Baltimore Ravens
Staley then paused when he got to the right tackle position. He could not name anyone.
"I don't watch a lot of right tackles," Staley admitted. "I can't say anybody from our team so I can't say Trent [Brown]."
Damon Bruce then let Staley off the hook and allowed him to select Trent Brown to his offensive line if he truly believed that his teammate was the best player at that position. So, Brown filled the final spot.
Brown, who is in his third season with the 49ers, was selected by the team in the seventh round of the 2015 NFL Draft. He has played in 25 games with the 49ers and started all but three. All three of those games were during his rookie season. Since Week 16 of the 2015 season, Brown has started every game for San Francisco.
While Staley is currently graded as the 11th-best tackle in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus, Brown is graded as the fourth-best.
"He's just physically gifted beyond his years," Staley said of Brown. "He's 6-foot-8, 6-foot-9 and 350 pounds. Moves like he's 270 pounds. He's got crazy long arms and he knows how to use it. The first couple of years, he was struggling with the reps and the game speed and he's kind of putting it all together in year three, which is encouraging to see.
"Like you said, he's playing really, really good for us right now and we need him to continue to develop because – I've been on record before – the sky's the limit for that kid. He's unbelievably talented and he's putting it all together now and you're kind of just seeing the scratching of the surface of what he can do in this league."
Brown has received high praise from Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller, who has gone up against the tackle in joint training camp practices over the past two offseasons.
"He is the best right tackle in the National Football League, if not a top-five offensive tackle, period," Miller said in August. "So going against Trent Brown and Joe Staley, they have two of the best tackles. Trent Brown is one of the best in the National Football League and Joe Staley has been one of the best for a long time."
In June, 49ers general manager John Lynch shared an interesting story with Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk about the first time he noticed Brown.
"I remember, last year, I was calling the Denver Broncos preseason and I was out at the joint practice between the Broncos and the 49ers," Lynch said. "And I walked on the field and I'm usually not fazed because I've been around these players for a long time – playing and then in the broadcast booth – and I looked over and I said, 'Who is that? That's the biggest man I've ever seen on a football field.' And it was Trent Brown."
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan also discussed Brown as recently as Wednesday.
"Trent's strength is his protection," Shanahan told reporters during a press conference. "He's a very big, long guy who's hard to get around. He can put together some very impressive clips and I think he's done a pretty good job for us this year and I thought he did a pretty good job for the team last year just watching him on tape."
