49ers Offensive Line

Originally posted by NYniner85:
Getting Barch back will help, Puni has really played poorly this yr…the PCL injury has to be messing with his play, but man he's been a train wreak all season.

That's the thing that really concerns me. If he was going to be able to play through the PCL injury we would've seen signs of improvement by now and the bye week is still more than a month away. Not that a week off is going to fix the problem, McCaffrey's PCL injury required months to heal. I'm increasingly coming around to the idea that continually rolling out a young guard with potential Pro Bowl upside on a knee whose structure has been made more vulnerable by the PCL injury is a bad idea. If we keep rolling the dice for long enough the odds are going to catch up to him and there's a potential that he might not be playing again until November or December of next year.

Puni needs to be allowed to get healthy. He's hurting the team and himself right now.

Colby is making strides. I'd honestly leave him there and put BB at RG.

Brendel is the worst C I've seen since Marcus Martin. Literally anyone else we have would be better. It's insane that this staff won't even try someone else.

Originally posted by ninersrule4:
Lol everyone one but Kyle, Lynch and PFF see this. Kinda crazy.

Add Foerster to that list of names. Him and his arrogant draft philosophy for the OL.

Originally posted by ninerAxe:
Add Foerster to that list of names. Him and his arrogant draft philosophy for the OL.

I think it's worth revisiting what Foerster actually said because, like a lot of Niners fans, that quote slowly transformed into the Dollar General O-line Manifesto in my mind. I looked it up recently just to refresh my mind, and here's the actual quote as reported by NBC:

"This is my personal opinion," Foerster said Wednesday at 49ers OTAs. "If they ask me, invest in guys that touch the ball, guys that can touch the ball and score touchdowns. And then there's a range of guys, second, third, fourth round, fifth round even, that we will find starting offensive linemen in."

He wasn't saying give me a bunch of sixth and seventh rounders, some UDFAs, and some trash poached from other teams' practice squads. Rather, he was saying there's plenty of good players available in the second through fifth rounds. He's not wrong. Look at the draft history of teams that are considered to have good O-lines. Outside of the Cowboys, those teams are not consistently investing a lot in first rounders. I think the primary difference between us and teams with legitimately good O-lines is that they consistently pick more linemen than we do each draft, and that speaks more about our FO's roster-building strategy than anything else.

I'm not in a very charitable mood regarding anything to do with our offensive line, but we should at least be fair about what we're saying. Better picks will certainly help, but I think the solution will be found when the FO starts prioritizing more picks.

Colton McKivitz 69 (81.8)

Trent Williams 69 (71.0)

Jake Brendel 69 (51.5)

Connor Colby 69 (58.0)

Dominick Puni 69 (63.0)

The 49ers' offensive line allowed 16 total pressures on Sunday. McKivitz only had one, but Dominick Puni led the team with six pressures and hurries allowed. Trent Williams was right behind Puni with four pressures allowed and two sacks allowed. Connor Colby allowed three pressures with a sack, a hurry, and a QB hit. McKivitz was the highest graded run blocker at 82.9, and Williams was the highest graded pass blocker at 80.4 despite the four pressures and two sacks allowed.

The biggest concern is Puni. We know he's still fighting through injuries, but the decline in his play has been shocking. He's a foundational piece of the future of the offensive line. I'm not sure how to improve his play, but he is clearly struggling.

Originally posted by DRCHOWDER:

49ers interior OLine negative plays vs Bucs entire game

Jack Brendel 12
Dominic Puni 10
Connor Colby 3

This is a bigger issue than lack of pass rush for the DLine! https://t.co/A7xbiVOA3P

— John Chapman (@JL_Chapman) October 15, 2025

Vita Vea will do that to you.

Atlanta will be no picnic either. Zach Harrison is close but not quite the pressure level of Vea.

Originally posted by ninerAxe:
Add Foerster to that list of names. Him and his arrogant draft philosophy for the OL.

if you think Foerster has any say on who the Niners draft...I have a bridge to sell you

Originally posted by BubbaParisMVP:

Originally posted by ninerAxe:
Add Foerster to that list of names. Him and his arrogant draft philosophy for the OL.

I think it's worth revisiting what Foerster actually said because, like a lot of Niners fans, that quote slowly transformed into the Dollar General O-line Manifesto in my mind. I looked it up recently just to refresh my mind, and here's the actual quote as reported by NBC:

"This is my personal opinion," Foerster said Wednesday at 49ers OTAs. "If they ask me, invest in guys that touch the ball, guys that can touch the ball and score touchdowns. And then there's a range of guys, second, third, fourth round, fifth round even, that we will find starting offensive linemen in."

He wasn't saying give me a bunch of sixth and seventh rounders, some UDFAs, and some trash poached from other teams' practice squads. Rather, he was saying there's plenty of good players available in the second through fifth rounds. He's not wrong. Look at the draft history of teams that are considered to have good O-lines. Outside of the Cowboys, those teams are not consistently investing a lot in first rounders. I think the primary difference between us and teams with legitimately good O-lines is that they consistently pick more linemen than we do each draft, and that speaks more about our FO's roster-building strategy than anything else.

I'm not in a very charitable mood regarding anything to do with our offensive line, but we should at least be fair about what we're saying. Better picks will certainly help, but I think the solution will be found when the FO starts prioritizing more picks.

Very interesting, thanks for bringing it back up...

Shanny is really the one to question here... they didn't even draft one in the 4th or 5th rd for Foerster to groom but it's cool cause we got a WR and RB who can't even sniff the grass

The problem I have with the O line is why is Connor Colby playing? I'm not ragging on Connor Colby. He has played much better then I expected. Yes he needs to improve, Power is hurting him. He is sometimes blocking the wrong person. stuns run right past him. Not on every play. He is a 7th round rookie and should be sitting and learning, developing and next year he should be competing for a spot. Why is a 7th round rookie starting? Why is Matt Hennessy not playing in front of him? If Hennessy can not win a job over a 7th round rookie why is he on the team? Because he can play center ya but that all he can do ? Why have they not drafted a back up center that can also play Guard? Nick Zakelj has 3 or 4 year and he is on the practice squad how is he not starting over a 7th round rookie. Why is Drew Moss a rookie undrafted free agent on the active roster and not Zakelj ? So Ben Bartch get injured and that blows the hole line up? The o line depth sucks. I'm not ragging or upset with Colby or Moss they're doing great. I'm upset that the team let the depth get so bad that a 7th round rookie and a rookie undrafted free agent are the best 2 back o linemen. What are they going to do when Trent Williams is out? He is already playing hurt. He will miss games at some point.

Originally posted by dlance:
The problem I have with the O line is why is Connor Colby playing? I'm not ragging on Connor Colby. He has played much better then I expected. Yes he needs to improve, Power is hurting him. He is sometimes blocking the wrong person. stuns run right past him. Not on every play. He is a 7th round rookie and should be sitting and learning, developing and next year he should be competing for a spot. Why is a 7th round rookie starting? Why is Matt Hennessy not playing in front of him? If Hennessy can not win a job over a 7th round rookie why is he on the team? Because he can play center ya but that all he can do ? Why have they not drafted a back up center that can also play Guard? Nick Zakelj has 3 or 4 year and he is on the practice squad how is he not starting over a 7th round rookie. Why is Drew Moss a rookie undrafted free agent on the active roster and not Zakelj ? So Ben Bartch get injured and that blows the hole line up? The o line depth sucks. I'm not ragging or upset with Colby or Moss they're doing great. I'm upset that the team let the depth get so bad that a 7th round rookie and a rookie undrafted free agent are the best 2 back o linemen. What are they going to do when Trent Williams is out? He is already playing hurt. He will miss games at some point.

After each question mark, the answer would be Shanny

Also, if you could play center, you're more than qualified to play guard. Any side. And you're right, Hennessy should be playing guard but if he gets hurt, they literally have no back up center, which again is a Shanny thing

We have two back up centers and maybe one sucks a teeny weeny less than the other one (I did say maybe), hence he plays

Originally posted by ninersrule4:

Add Foerster to that list of names. Him and his arrogant draft philosophy for the OL.

True, it's ridiculous how bad the Oline is ... maybe they could learn about Oline from the Eagles

So stupid that they extended McKivitz.
He sucks worse than ever

Originally posted by maxsmart:

So stupid that they extended McKivitz.
He sucks worse than ever

But but but he's the #4 tackle on PFF!

I'm not trying to crap on an injured player, but did the line start looking a lot better after Brendel left the game?

Originally posted by GorefullBore:
I'm not trying to crap on an injured player, but did the line start looking a lot better after Brendel left the game?

Absolutely it did and Hennessy had better push and better anchor than I've seen JAKE have