San Francisco 49ers' head coach Jim Tomsula named his starting offensive line today, and for the most part it's pretty much what you'd expect. Joe Staley and Alex Boone were givens at left tackle and left guard respectively. Marcus Martin will fill in at center until Daniel Kilgore is ready to go, and Erik Pears will continue to waive at defenders as they blow by him at right tackle. So while four of the five spots were kind of what we thought, right guard is a bit of a surprise. The starting nod there will go to Jordan Devey.
Who is Devey?
Well he's the guy the 49ers traded their sixth string tight end for two weeks ago. Seriously.
Devey spent the last two seasons with the New England Patriots, appearing in seven games in 2014 with four starts. The Pats were 3-1 in those games, but Devey didn't exactly set the world on fire. According to Pro Football Focus, he gave up nine quarterback pressures and graded out at a minus-19 overall.
Minus-19 isn't very good, but at least it will mesh well with Pears on the right side who also graded out terribly. Pears had a negative-25 rating at guard for the Buffalo Bills last season, and was almost as ineffective at tackle the year before, finishing 55th out of 76 qualifiers.
So, in short, it looks like Colin Kaepernick will be rolling out a lot to his left this year.
Look, I'm not trying to bash Devey. He may end up being a great find and perform admirably for the 49ers. But let's call it like it is, the abrupt retirement of Anthony Davis and the injury to Kilgore has the team in a serious bind. They can spin it however they want to, but San Francisco has an offensive line of mostly backups right now. That's a scary thought.
In my humble opinion, I think the unit is so bad at the moment, it could completely derail the entire season. I still believe they will be able to run the ball, but every drop back could be an adventure.
I'm also a little confused as to why the brain trust was so opposed to moving Boone over to right tackle. That would balance the line a little more, and give the 49ers two strong bookends. In this scenario, Pears would probably be starting at one of the guard spots, but at least that could limit the damage with him on the inside.
Obviously, I hope I'm wrong here and Devey and Pears can surprise some people. I think frustration is setting in though, especially seeing what the Denver Broncos did to the Niners upfront recently. I understand Kaepernick wasn't allowed to audible yet and yada, yada, yada. Bottom line is he wasn't able to get off more than two passes until there were less than two minutes left in the first half. The performance was unacceptable, and I don't know if they have the pieces in house to right the ship.
Al Sacco has covered the 49ers for various sites over the years. He's been a guest on multiple podcasts and had his work used by ESPN NFL Insiders and USA TODAY. Follow Al on Twitter @AlSacco49
